Online Sochi Games viewing presents dilemma for employers

It's not yet known what the legacy of the Sochi Olympics will be, but as far as Canadian broadcasters are concerned this is shaping up as the first truly online Games.

Online streaming has existed for some time, but partly due to interest and partly due to the time difference, Sochi is breaking all records for online viewing. For example, a total of 8.4 million Canadians tuned in to some or all of the daytime coverage of Thursday's Canada-Norway men's hockey game and 1.4 million of them watched online.

That's one in six viewers.

The breakdown isn't available, but you can be sure that most of those 1.4 million people were watching at work. And that has created a bit of an issue in offices across the country.

While some bosses have allowed employees to view the Olympics on their office computers, all in the name of worker happiness, others are balking at both the loss of productivity and the acres of bandwidth being used.

The Calgary Herald reported this week that Alberta Health Services has put a stop to online viewing after experiencing system slowdowns caused by too many employees watching the Games at their desks. The organization notified its 95,000 staff and volunteers that it will block access to websites that stream video during the Games.

“The system didn’t crash, there was no significant problem, it was a preventive measure,” Alberta Health Services communications head Colleen Turner told the Herald. “But there was a slowdown because people were streaming video, including coverage of the Olympics. We wanted to remind people of the appropriate use of equipment.

“We want to make sure the bandwidth is available for all staff, to make sure there wasn’t a major impact on any of the applications at hospitals and care sites."

Turner said staff members could still call up websites to find out results or scores, but video would be verboten.

The City of Calgary didn't block access -- at least not yet. The city urged its employees to use discretion with streaming video and said it would monitor use to avoid it affecting its system.

Instead, it suggested employees use their personal cellphones to watch the Olympics.

But with 1.4 million people watching hockey online, obviously other companies aren't taking action. Many appear to have decided they probably can't stop workers from stealing a few minutes to watch events, so they might as well go along with it.

According to the Toronto Star, many companies are showing big events on screens in their boardrooms. Others, notably Olympic sponsors, are encouraging employees to watch the Games.

RBC, for one, is encouraging them to watch during breaks -- not while serving customers or counting cash.

“It’s part of building rapport and getting to know each other,” RBC communications officer Jane Broderick said. “This could actually be the counter to reduced productivity. (It could lead to) increased revenue streams, increasing opportunities to meet certain needs.”

Samsung, another Olympics sponsor, is broadcasting Olympic content on several screens in its Toronto offices. It does so in the name of employee morale.

While there will obviously be lost productivity as employees drop their pencils to watch the Games, sociologists say it's not a bad move to let them do so.

David Zweig, associate professor of organizational behaviour and human resources at the University of Toronto, told the Star the move will pay off in the long run.

“This is not going to have a long-term effect on productivity,” he said. “In fact, allowing people to enjoy the event could actually enhance their satisfaction with their employer, and that could have more positive effects on productivity than making them hide at their desks.”

If employers don’t allow employees to catch up on the Games, they will find a way, Zweig said.

“They’re going to hide it and that’s going to hurt productivity because they’re going to be distracted.”