Is lost productivity worth better morale?
Ask us April 6.
But for now, the TV is on in the newsroom while hands pause above keyboards to see three-pointers downed and underdogs come out ahead in this March Madness of a basketball season.
Is it a far stretch to say it’s a geography lesson? Murray State is in Kentucky. Wouldn’t have known that until the buzzer shot upended Vanderbilt’s chances to the Final Four.
That’s Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tenn.
See? We’re not total zombies.
It’s said this obsession will cost the U.S. economy $1.8 billion in lost productivity.
Idle chatter at the water cooler. Constantly checking the brackets and video streams on the Web.
That’s time that should have been spent creating, selling, serving — or sharing a cheer for a good shot.
ALMOST EVERY other citizen of the world views Americans as slaves to their jobs.
Europeans typically get five to six weeks of vacation each year, no matter their seniority. Maternity leaves are far more generous.
Still, we must be doing something right. The U.S. has the highest immigration rate of all countries in the world. Compared to Germany or Russia, for example, the U.S. has four times as many foreign-born citizens as they do.
Our open-door policy has brought in substantial growth in productivity. According to a Harvard researcher, one quarter of America’s engineering and technology firms founded be-tween 1995 and 2005 had an immigrant founder.
In today’s world, talent works like a magnet. Smart people like to be around other high achievers. They thrive on the stimulation of other creative minds. We’re a highly mobile society where people frequently move across the country for better jobs.
That’s why a town’s industries, schools and cultural offerings can have an impact on a city’s direction. And why small towns like Murray, Ky., which averages 4 percent annual growth, continue on an upward path.
The bigger the cluster of talent, the bigger the driver of economic grow-th. The more new faces we welcome — of all colors — the better we’ll be able to keep young, strong and growing.
THE FINAL Four competition is a perfect example of this strategy of success. Talented athletes want to play with other talented athletes and be led by talented coaches — even if it’s in Kansas.
Attracting the best and the brightest to our neck of the woods is how we can turn around our decline. It starts with us proving we have what it takes to be in the competition.
— Susan Lynn
