Productivity in the office may suffer a potential slowdown when workers turn to the Internet to check the scores of their March Madness picks. Nineteen percent of workers said they have participated in March Madness pools at the office and 24 percent have paid more than $10 to enter, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey. The survey titled, "March Madness at Work," was conducted from November 13 to December 3, 2007 and included 6,704 workers.

Men vs. Women

Men are more likely to bet on March Madness in the office than women. Twenty-four percent of male workers say they have participated in March Madness pools in the office, compared to 13 percent of females. Eight percent of males indicate that they monitor the games during the workday, more than double their female counterparts.

By Region

More workers in the Midwest have played the March Madness brackets than any other region. Twenty-five percent of workers in the Midwest say they got in on the March Madness pool at work, compared to 22 percent in the Northeast, 18 percent in the South and 11 in the West.

By Industry

The madness over the next few weeks will be felt across numerous industries. One third (33 percent) of Professional and Business Services workers said they have entered March Madness pools at work, along with 30 percent of workers in Financial Services, 29 percent in Sales and IT, 21 percent in Transportation and Utilities, 15 percent in Retail and 11 percent in Hospitality.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the US by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 6,704 U.S. employees (employed full-time; not self-employed) ages 18 and over within the U.S. between November 13 and December 3, 2007. With a pure probability sample of 6,704, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.3 percentage points, respectively. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A full methodology is available upon request.

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. , Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company and Microsoft Corp. , the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,600 partners, including 140 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 300,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 26 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/.

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   Michael Erwin
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   Michael.Erwin@careerbuilder.com

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SOURCE: CareerBuilder.com