Image credit: Pierre de Coubertin, Wikimedia CommonsDo you have hard-core sports fans in your lab? Are they obsessed with the 2014 Winter Olympics? According to an article in the Toronto Star, while productivity may take a dive during the Olympics, the long-term benefits of letting employees watch some Olympic events outweigh those short-term negatives.

Being flexible during the Olympics can provide benefits in three main ways, according to the experts interviewed in the article:

1. Gives worker morale a boost, since it shows making sure employees enjoy themselves is important to employers.
2. Gives employees a chance to bond as they cheer on their countries.
3. Helps employees feel more satisfied with their employer and, in turn, can lead to higher productivity in the long run.

The piece also notes that those determined to watch the Olympics will likely do so anyway, whether it’s allowed or not. But, by hiding in their office to catch up on the Olympics, productivity is negatively affected without the benefits of team-building created by letting employees watch together.

- with files from the Toronto Star