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While customers are watching the Super Bowl at Boston’s Common Ground Bar and Grill Ben Powers Jersey , waiters and bartenders will pause to see key moments as well. General Manager Jeff John understands his staff wants to see if the New England Patriots can win their third NFL title in four years.

”Your first focus has to be the guest,” John says. ”But we all get caught in the moment from time to time.”

Big sporting events are often a workplace distraction. But many small business owners and managers are cutting staffers a little slack as football fans find it hard to resist chatting about Sunday’s game. The Winter Olympics, the NCAA basketball tournament and other big events are coming up, and staffers may want to tune in.

Some owners realize that trying to eliminate sports talk or forbidding staffers to watch games is demoralizing and also difficult to achieve. So as long as there isn’t too much Monday morning quarterbacking or time spent in front of the office TV, bosses will go easy on fans. Some companies are even more understanding; it’s OK there for staffers to watch games in break rooms, and some owners even run office pools without cash prizes.

John has noticed that when the games are most exciting, customers want to watch, not order. So if waiters want to pause and see the play, he doesn’t stop them. Besides, when a waiter high-fives a customer after great play, it increases the bond between Common Ground and its diners.

A flexible attitude is a good management practice for company owners, says Philippe Weiss, an attorney with expertise in employment law at the firm Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago.

”They’re not going to be able to stop people’s excitement,” Weiss says. ”Trying to do so in an unyielding or draconian way is going to backfire.”

If the boss sees productivity slowing, or employees not tending to work that needs to be done, Weiss suggests a firm but friendly approach. For example, if there’s too much watching of NCAA games, tell staffers, ”It’s time to do a fast break back to work.”

David Niu doesn’t worry about productivity at TINYpulse, his company that makes software to measure worker satisfaction and morale at other businesses. There’s a TV that will show NCAA games in March and employees will be able to watch. But they’ll also be held accountable for getting their work done.

”Instead of fighting it, I’m going to treat you as an adult,” says Niu, whose Seattle-based company has 100 employees. He expects staffers to cluster in front of the TV during the last few minutes of some of the games – and he’ll be there with them.

Watching TV during at work was once verboten. But many employers have come to realize a more employee-friendly work atmosphere benefits everyone; when staffers feel relaxed and are allowed to share a little fun, they’re more productive and do better work.

Actualize Consulting used to have a policy about watching and discussing games that managing director Kerry Wekelo now calls rigid. The bosses would end conversations, and ”that would burst people’s bubbles when they were excited,” Wekelo says.

The financial consulting firm with offices in New York and Reston, Virginia http://www.ravensfootballauthentics.com/iman-marshall-jersey-authentic , has since changed its policy. If employees want to take a couple of hours to watch a game, they can, as long as they make up the time. The bosses also run an NCAA pool in which the winnings can be used for wellness purchases like gym memberships or treadmills.

Owners shouldn’t run pools with pure cash prizes, which are illegal even though employees at many workplaces have them, Weiss says. If a boss runs a pool and staffers feel pressure to take part, it could be raised in a potential lawsuit against the company. Or workers who don’t want to take part may resent the boss.

It’s not so easy for people who work in a factory to watch games or spend time away from their work to chat. At Ratchet Straps USA, which makes straps to tie down items like tents or farm equipment, the headsets staffers use to communicate with one another in the warehouse have private channels, and owner Michael Russell is fine with them talking about the game or anything else while they work. He understands sports are important for many at his Belleville, Ohio, company, and they’ll want to gather around the TV in the last 10 minutes of NCAA games.

”Watching the last couple of minutes is something that we definitely even encourage,” Russell says.

Richard Lee is really the only big fan at his Los Angeles law firm, and is likely to be alone watching NCAA games on the conference room TV. He still runs a cashless pool for staffers. After the tournament, there’s an awards luncheon and even non-participants are eligible for a last-place medal.

”This is a fun morale booster and break from what is often the dead-serious practice of law,” Lee says.

Since it’s pointless to try to ban sports fans from watching or talking, Ross Sapir, owner of Roadway Moving based in the New York City borough of the Bronx, doesn’t even try.

”They don’t have to do it on the sly, on their cellphones or watching it in the background of their computers,” says Sapir, whose moving business has 40 staffers in its office, including many who want to watch the games on company TVs.

The big sporting event at his company is the World Cup soccer tournament, which runs from mid-June to mid-July. The games will be in Russia and many will be broadcast during working hours.

”I actually almost give them complete freedom to watch,” Sapir says. ”It’s such METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Former Florida safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson completed all of two rookie minicamp practices when Saints secondary coach Aaron Glenn predicted that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen would find a way to carve out playing time for New Orleans’ fourth-round draft choice.“It’s limitless what this player can do,” Glenn said Saturday. “We’re just excited to have him and I’m sure DA’s going to make schemes to be able to use this player Trace McSorley Jersey , to make sure his versatility is used out there.”So much for tempering expectations for a player who hasn’t even practiced against Saints veterans yet.“He does have the speed and the mentality to go out there and play corner, but he can play nickel, he can play in the box, he can play deep safety, so you have fun with players like that,” Glenn said. “I’m excited to see what all we can do with him. And plus, he has the mental capacity to be able to take all that information in and apply it right to the field.”The Saints, who entered the 2019 NFL draft without a fourth-round pick, traded up 11 spots to take the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Gardner-Johnson, who played both nickel back and safety at Florida.He intercepted nine passes for the Gators, returning three for touchdowns. Four of his interceptions — and two of his TD returns — came last season, when he also had three sacks, nine tackles for losses, two pass breakups and finished with a total of 71 tackles.During practice Saturday, Gardner-Johnson intercepted one pass and tipped another that wound up being intercepted by fellow rookie safety Saquon Hampton, a sixth-rounder out of Rutgers who was the Saints’ third overall draft choice.“It’s just exciting to know you’ve got a good player that you had rated high that’s on your team,” Glenn said. “So with (Gardner-Johnson) and Saquon, it was the same thing with both of those guys.”New Orleans already has two veteran starting safeties coming back — fourth-year pro Vonn Bell on the strong side and third-year player Marcus Williams playing deep. But the Saints have been known to employ three-safety alignments and there was not a lot of depth in that position group following the release of Kurt Coleman this offseason.Gardner-Johnson stopped short of predicting a prominent role for himself as a rookie, but didn’t sell himself short, either.“I could play immediately, but that’s on me,” he said. “I’m just ready to get out there, have fun and make an impression.“I’m not really worried about where I’m at out there on the field, or what position,” he added. “I’m just ready to go out there and play football.”While Gardner-Johnson was gratified the Saints traded up to select him, he called that “one minor step to something better.”Glenn said the Saints sought to “stress” Gardner-Johnson during Saturday’s practice by giving him a variety of defensive back assignments on the defense Kyler Murray Jersey , including nickel back, safety in the base defense and safety in passing situations that employed more than four defensive backs.“He’s smart, and he’s quickly picked up the installation,” Saints head coach Sean Payton noted. “You can see he’s versatile. I think he can play over the slot in the nickel role, and also as a safety.”For most of Gardner-Johnson’s Florida career, his last name was Gardner. He changed it before his senior season to honor his step-father, Brian Johnson, who had been in his life since he was about 3-years-old.“He ain’t missed a game,” Gardner-Johnson said. “He’s always been in my life. … My dad’s a basketball guy, but whatever I loved, he loved. Wherever I was at, he was at.”Gardner-Johnson also has considerable history with Glenn. They met when Glenn was helping out at an “Opening” football camp for high school standouts in Oregon. Glenn recalled that Gardner-Johnson sometimes challenged instructors who criticized him, but not in a disrespectful way.“When we butted heads, I thought that was cool that he stood up for himself,” Glenn said, adding that he kept in touch with Gardner-Johnson during his college career. “I’d always text him. It was funny how these things come around. You know, the world is round, man, and he ended up coming to us. So, it’s a good deal.”Notes: Payton said he has not heard from NFL headquarters regarding possible disciplinary action against defensive tackle David Onyemata, who received a misdemeanor marijuana citation early this offseason. Onyemata could be suspended up to four games, but Payton said, “I don’t know that that’s going to happen,” and added that the Saints are preparing for the season as if Onyemata won’t miss any action.