Olympics at the Office?

The arrival of the Olympics always creates a stir of excitement. But is it just us, or do these summer games in London seem to hold a special sort of spark? Maybe it’s a surge of American spirit — or perhaps it’s simply the access we now have to live streams of every Olympic event on NBC’s website starting early in the workday and on into the evening.

Either way, we’re feeling it. And apparently, so is the bandwidth of Internet connections at companies across the country. In fact, according to the Los Angeles Times, just a few days ago at L.A.’s City Hall, chief technology officer Randi Levin issued an email asking employees to stop watching the games, as its high-traffic demands were ultimately “impacting city operations.”

Network speeds, however, may not be the only thing affected. As reported by SmartMoney.com, the time spent viewing the events by workers (and not spent actually working) could create an estimated loss of $650 million for U.S. companies — a seemingly high price to pay for the chance to see if your favorite team can strike gold. Some inspiration could come from the downtime, though: South Florida’s Sun Sentinel lists a few lessons that employees could learn from watching world-class Olympians in action.

So what about you? Are you watching the Olympics at the office? How is it affecting your workload? And is it pre-approved by management, or is it in secret? (We won’t tell. Besides, we’ll probably be off watching today’s cycling events starting at 11am EST…)

Featured in photo: Setu Chair options