Around 16 million people are expected to call in sick at work this Super Bowl Monday, a day that has become known as one of the least productive days of the year.
That's according to estimates from a UKG Workforce Institute survey cited by Bloomberg in a Feb. 12 report. Aside from people calling out sick with the so-called "Super Bowl Flu," more than a quarter of U.S. employees — or about 45 million people — said they'll be less productive than usual. The survey was conducted from Jan. 10-12 and involved 1,192 employed U.S. adults.
Overall, nearly 23 million employees indicated they planned on missing some work on Monday, including 1 in 5 people managers. The findings point to the need for transparent and proactive communication from managers across workspaces regarding time off plans after NFL championship celebrations, UKG said in a press release on the findings.
"With low unemployment and a steady U.S. labor market, favoring employees, all signs point to the importance of organizations developing a winning game plan for handling absences, both planned and unexpected — so teams are covered, schedules remain flexible, communication is open and transparent, and employees feel more comfortable requesting, and more confident receiving, time off from work as needed," the company said.
A few scenarios have gained attention as potential solutions to rein in Super Bowl Monday's effect on the workplace: recognizing Monday as a national holiday, or pushing the game back a week so that it would fall on President's Day weekend, when millions of workers would already have the next day off.