Are you ready for some football?

According to NBC sports, over 14 million Americans will participate in fantasy football this season, and the Pyxl team is no exception. It’s a yearly tradition at the office come fall season, but is it a waste of time in the workplace?

Some managers may feel this way and argue that office fantasy football leagues decrease productivity. Other companies, however, encourages these type of office activities. This scenario resonates for all in the office, easily creating excitement and good sportsmanship. You see, Fantasy football IS BASED on productivity. If your players do not produce results, then you don’t win your matches.

Think I’m making a crazy reach? Hear me out:

Fantasy football is more than the glorious crunch of helmet versus helmet all day every Sunday and on Monday Night. Fantasy football focuses on the black and white; this is what my selected players accomplished, contrast and compare. It’s safe to say that fantasy football can become a mild obsession. But, is it safe to say it’s a waste of productivity?

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the average employee spends 1.19 hours a week on fantasy football. This amount of time is no more time than what employees spend in the restroom, or at the water cooler.

In addition, with mobile phones and wifi connections just about everywhere, most employees (we know we do it at Pyxl) spend time checking emails and working outside the office, essentially counteracting the small amount of time spent making fantasy football trades and checking scores. All in all, we can honestly say that our productivity doesn’t suffer. We put high priority on deadlines and usually talk about the upcoming games and make our roster moves during breaks.

PLUS, fantasy football has a major positive side: increasing employee interaction. Take into account the process of trading players with each other. It’s an exercise in compromise and trust. Fantasy football creates healthy competition, camaraderie and common interest amongst employees. Even staff members who don’t follow professional football are now more interested because it gives them a sense of responsibility in order to win their match ups.

John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas supports this idea, saying, “Companies need different ways to bring their people together to create relationships and make the organization more than the sum of its parts. If a bunch of fantasy footballers build relationships with each other through participation in a league, that can be very valued.”

Some companies may say that fantasy football is no good, but we say the benefits outweigh any negative points. At the end of the day, we all just want to have a little fun! Why not incorporate that into the workplace and have happy employees? And by the way, March Madness will be here before you know it. What better way to practice for that than to start your own fantasy league right now?!