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The Summer Olympics and work

August 12th, 2008
By CareerBuilder blogger in Co-workers, News and trends, Surveys
1 Comment

Many of us have been glued to our TV watching the 2008 Summer Olympics.

It has been thrilling to see the events, and many workers agree: Twelve percent of the workers we talked to in a recent survey indicated they would be watching some of the Olympics while they were at work.

The intense media spotlight on Michael Phelps and the U.S. mens swim team is reflected in the fact that over a third of our survey participants said they would be tuning in to watch swimming events. The list of most anticipated events:

Swimming (37 percent)
Baseball and softball (29 percent)
Gymnastics (26 percent)
Track and field (23 percent)
Volleyball (23 percent)
Cycling (20 percent
Basketball (19 percent)
Soccer (19 percent)

Younger workers are definitely more dedicated fans of Summer Olympics action. Sixteen percent of workers aged 18-24 are watching, versus 13 percent of workers 25-34, 11 percent of workers 35-44, 11 percent of workers 45-54, and 9 percent of workers over 55.

We also asked workers what Summer Olympic sport most resembled their current job, and they said:

Volleyball: A team sport (20 percent)
Hurdles: Lots of obstacles in the way (14 percent)
Marathon: Slow and steady (13 percent)
Wrestling: In a holding pattern (11 percent)
Weightlifting: Bearing all the weight (8 percent)
Synchronized swimming: You and your co-workers are all on the same page (7 percent)

For the complete story, click here.

What have you been waiting to see? What has been the most thrilling moment so far? And have you watched any of the Games at work? Tell us…we promise not to say a word to your boss!)