The world has gone Pokémon crazy, first it was Candy Crush then it was Angry Birds and now its Pokémon Go, we are all becoming gaming addicts. I think we all remember the days of playing Pokémon, now that’s all I see on my Facebook feed, and the game has barely been out a fortnight. But when I saw a post on Boeing being the first employer to ban Pokémon Go I had to write about it.

Things in the UK has been very turbulent over the past month with announcement that the UK will leave the European Union (Brexit) and employers should be worried even more since the launch of Pokémon Go. People are spending 4.1% more time on their smart phones and on average spent 75 minutes per day playing a fantasy game, just in the first week. On top of that Facebook has seen an increase of engagement from 33-35 minutes per day, with most raving about which creature they have captured. This is worrying stats and should send alarm bells to employers before its starts affecting work productivity.

I get it, Pokémon could have some benefits such as getting people more active and out the office which I’m a big fan of but I cant help the fact that it’s a big distraction and could lead you to lose your job!

What being a Pokestop means for business

There are very few spaces that seem to be safe from this viral mobile game; one guy from Massachusetts discovered last week that his home was set as a location where people could train their Pokémon. Random people would hang outside starring at his house whilst playing the game, I’m not sure I would like random strangers turn up outside my house in the middle of the night.

If your really unfortunate your workplace could also be a Pokestop, which is where gamers can pick up Pokémon balls to increase their power up in the app, every time you capture a Pokémon you will use a Poke ball, hence having a Pokestop could be a real problem.

Are your employees wasting their time catching Pikachus instead of doing work? Considering the addictive nature of Pokémon Go, banning the game outright may lead to sneakful tactics and hiding under the desks to get just five minutes of playing time. Placing an aggressive notice up won’t do you much good either but there are policies you can put in place. Eventually the hype will die down but in the meantime you could turn into an incentive for actually increasing productivity by holding a small competition, that way your employees are less likely to sneak around the office.

Is Pokémon Go, having a positive or negative impact on your employee productivity? I would love to hear from you!