Employees Gambling In The Workplace
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Act
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Against
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Behavior
With March Madness coming up, you might have been invited to join an office pool — maybe a toonie buy-in, or something a little bigger, pricier, and more competitive. This is nothing new: from co-workers betting on big games to staff members checking out poker websites on their lunch break, gambling can be a surprisingly pervasive part of the workplace.
In fact, one workplace survey cited by the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found nearly 60 per cent of respondents said employees at their organizations have been involved in Super Bowl pools, with 39 per cent saying people at their office pooled money to buy lottery tickets.
Whilst it can be difficult to diagnose a gambling problem in an employee, there are a red flags you should watch out for: Increased absenteeism Disheveled appearance Taking large blocks of vacation at short notice Excessive use of company telephones Mood swings Theft of company property Arguments. While nothing compares to the excitement of seeing your team advance in the tournament, placing a wager on the outcome of a game, for even a small amount of money, is absolutely prohibited in the Federal workplace. Federal rules prohibit employees from gambling while on duty, or while on government-owned or leased property.
But is allowing (and participating) in this kind of activity at the office a bit of a gamble? It can, after all, be a bit of a slippery slope. To protect yourself (and your employees), it might be time to implement a gambling policy.
Here are some reasons for and against.
Pros and cons of workplace gambling
Before you prohibit all the aforementioned forms of “gambling,” keep in mind that these group activities can actually be a benefit to staff and company morale.
“If the stakes are really low, and it’s more about instilling some competitive spirit in the team, I don’t see much harm in that,” says Eric MacIntosh, an associate professor of sport management at the University of Ottawa. “People should have a little fun at work, and something like an office pool can be a way to have that fun and bond with co-workers.”
But before you call a company-wide hockey pool for the upcoming playoffs, keep in mind that you might alienate those who don’t want to participate (or, in this case, those who don’t know anything about sports).
“What if you’ve got 20 people in the office, and 15 want to be part of this office pool, and five don’t?” MacIntosh asks. “Does that make those five people a subculture in the organization?”
Chris Higgins, professor emeritus at Ivey Business School, echoes MacIntosh’s sentiment that a little office pool is generally harmless fun, but cautions to also be on the lookout for signs of trouble. “The real problem,” Higgins says, “is people spending time on gambling websites — be it online poker or sports betting — at the office. That can lead to a drop in someone’s productivity and could be a red flag for bigger issues, like gambling addiction,” he says.
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Act
According to the Centre for Additional and Mental Health (CAMH), employees with legitimate gambling problems may also be experiencing other mental and physical health issues such as depression, anxiety, lack of sleep, or stress-related illnesses.
Why gambling policies are helpful
When it comes to online gambling, Higgins says the answer is simple: Don’t allow it.
“I would restrict access to gambling sites … turn the switches off,” he says, adding most companies already block these types of websites.
As for office pools and friendly bets among coworkers, MacIntosh says there should be a “clearly articulated” set of parameters in a formal document to guard against potential problems. So what would that kind of policy entail? According to CAMH, they should focus on harm reduction and providing supports, and require backing from top levels of management.
The mental health centre also recommends blocking gambling sites, keeping accurate records on workplace performance, including gambling information in financial services for employees, and organizing social events at places other than casinos or racetracks.
Looking for more information on office gambling? Check out CAMH’s ‘Gambling and the Workplace’ resource online.
See also:
4 (free!) ways to boost employee engagement
How to build a healthier, happier office
_______
– Subscribe to the Hiring Insider newsletter
– Follow Workopolis_Hire on Twitter
– Listen to Safe for Work, the Workopolis podcast
– Post a job on Workopolis now
So you ask what does the Super Bowl have to do with the American workplace, except for lost productivity at the water cooler the Monday after the Big Game? Why, the Super Bowl is quite possibly the best reminder about the dangers of betting in the workplace.
Since the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots punched their tickets to Glendale, the media buzz around the Phoenix area has been massive and unrelenting. In other words, everyone is getting pulled in by the madness, but no one recognizes the impact (present and potential) of such madness. And with Tiger Woods in town, returning to the Phoenix Open, the PGA tour event already infamous as the wildest show on grass, the madness is in full swing this week in the Valley of the Sun. So what should employers do? Don’t make things worse!
The Letter of the Law
Of course, there will be talk after the Super Bowl about the game, its commercials, Katy Perry’s half-time show, and other parts of the overall pageantry, but one of the big problems relating to the Super Bowl has to be dealt with before the pre-game show even starts. Don’t let employees use your technology to access gambling sites and do not tolerate gambling within your office using company resources.
As a general rule, gambling is prohibited under Arizona law. Some exceptions exist, including so-called “amusement gambling,” which is generally understood to involve a primary element of skill darts, for instance, or “social gambling” — for example, when friends over the age of 21 gather to wager on events such as the time a friend’s child will be born.
To Pool or Not to Pool
An office pool is a gray area. An office pool where employees use company technology to promote, organize and maintain their gambling activities hovers dangerously into the dark gray boundary between lawful and unlawful, even more so if the “pool administrator” receives a percentage of the bets placed to compensate him/her for the trouble of organizing the activity.
If you think that I’m exaggerating (don’t worry, as a lawyer I’m used to it), keep in mind that just this month, new Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich conducted raids on half-a-dozen suspected gambling cafes and gave an interview to the local news warning people not to gamble in Arizona in any fashion if they wanted to stay clear of any violations of state law.
Now combine that mindset with estimates that Americans will wager some $10 billion in conjunction with the Big Game and the existence of thousands of websites promoting bets on every aspect of the Super Bowl (from the yardage of the first field goal made to the classic over-under on the score), to prop bets on the color of Belichick’s hoodie (odds are -150 for gray, +175 for blue and +700 for red), the number of times Gisele Bundchen will appear on the game telecast, and how many times the name John Travolta will be mentioned in connection with Idina Menzel, who will be singing the National Anthem (okay, I made that one up… I think).
Of course, if your employee handling the office pool is also reaching out to employees across state lines using the internet, you should add an element of interstate crime to the overall intrigue. Needless to say, no office manager wants to be the person who tells the employees to stop the fun, but there is nothing that prevents employees from enjoying the Super Bowl without having to use company resources to gamble.
Employment Law Pitfalls
So where do employers draw the line? First, you do not want to be seen as promoting gambling, which is becoming easier to do every day on a computer or smart phone. Yes, there’s an app for it, too! Once you openly endorse the office prop bets pool, not only does a company offers itself up as a potential example to be made by our new AG, but it becomes very difficult to limit other forms of gambling.
What’s the harm in a fantasy league where the commissioner/mail clerk gets paid a fee by the participants or an after-hour poker game in the conference room? Your technology resources are being used to engage in solicitation of contribution to the pool. At that point, you may have created a situation where you have sanctioned a violation of your anti-solicitation policy or your technology usage policy. If you try to enforce those during a union-organizing drive later, expect a charge of violation of the NLRA. If an employee with genuinely held religious limitations on gambling is badgered for non-participating by co-workers, expect an EEOC charge.
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Against
I recognize that there can be an office-bonding component in this process and that it is increasingly more difficult to monitor what employees do at work. If you want to capitalize on that bond but avoid the pitfalls, why don’t you turn the pool into a charitable activity? All proceeds collected serve as a charitable donation on behalf of the winner of the pool. All three of the pitfalls above disappear while you retain the bonding and increase the feel-good components of having raised money for a good cause.
All I hope is that this Super Bowl is as exciting as the last one that took place at University of Phoenix stadium!
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Behavior
Laurent Badoux is Chair, Phoenix Labor & Employment Practice at the Phoenix office of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig. www.gtlaw.com