Those who know me know I'm a huge basketball fan. Pro, college, AAU, high school, hell, if you really dig into my past you would probably find me hanging out at some playground breaking down the defense effort of a pickup game between grade school kids.  So, when March Madness comes around each year I'm like many of your employees. I'm trying to find the best ways to work and watch basketball, or at the very least stay up on my brackets and see who is getting upset!

With all the hype over the past few years about lost productivity, due to March Madness, in the workplace, I felt it was my duty to provide HR pros with some helpful tips and tricks to get your staff to stay productive during this time of year.

1. Put up TVs throughout the office. Let's face it, you really only have one or two hoops junkies in the office, and those folks usually spend vacation time to ensure they don't miss a minute. Everyone else just wants to see scores and highlights. They're a casual fan. They're willing to work a perfectly normal day, and will probably be just a productive, if not more, with the TVs steaming all the games in the background. Plus, if you get a close game or big upset, you'll get some team excitement in the air.  This also stops most of your staff trying to stream the games on their desktops for the entire afternoon.

2. Call off work those afternoons. March Madness is pretty close to a national holiday as we will ever get. Doesn't matter if you're female or male, young or old, what religion you are, we all love the drama and excitement of March Madness. Just close the office. Make a deal with your staff to reach certain goals and if they're met, take them to the local watering hole yourself and have some fun with it. Employees like to rally around a fun idea. You don't have to make everything fun, all the time, but once in a while helps to lift productivity.