(LOOTPRESS) – Bring in the backups! An estimated 16.1 million1 U.S. employees plan to miss work the Monday after Super Bowl LVIII, including over 6 million U.S. employees who will risk a workplace penalty for faking sick or “ghosting” work altogether and not showing up. That’s according to new research conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of the UKG Workforce Institute, which has tracked absenteeism surrounding the big game for nearly two decades.
Cases of the so-called “Super Bowl Flu” emerge annually across America, with an estimated14.5 million2 employed adults in the U.S. admitting they’ve called in sick to work when they weren’t actually sick on the Monday after the Super Bowl — including over 1 in 10 people managers (11%).
The good news? The number of anticipated Super Bowl Monday absences for 2024 is down slightly from last year, when 18.8 million employees said they planned to miss work. Another positive development for 2024 is about 10 million3 U.S. employees have already requested the day off, which helps their managers and companies better prepare for the game-related absences.
UKG experts caution against any excessive celebrations, though. Despite the lower absentee numbers, about 6.4 million4 U.S. employees also plan to go into work late, another 11.2 million5 employees say they’re “not sure” whether they’ll miss work, and an additional 6.4 million6 employees will decide at the last minute what to do.
These results further underline the need for people leaders to chat with employees early about their Super Bowl time-off plans, to avoid leaving large holes in team coverage across America on Monday morning.
Super Bowl Absentee Survey Stats to Know
- All in all, 14% of U.S. employees — about 22.5 million7 employees — plan to miss at least some work on Monday following the big game. This includes 1 in 5 people managers.
- For those scheduled to work Super Bowl Sunday itself, about 3.2 million8 U.S. employees each plan to call in sick or just not show up to work so they can watch the game.
- More than a quarter of all U.S. employees (28%) — roughly 45.1 million9 employees — say they’ll be less productive than usual at work on Monday after the Super Bowl this year.
- Over a third of U.S. employees (37%) believe the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.