Millions of Americans skipping work the day after the Super Bowl

2020 is almost here, so check out the "most-clicked" stories on NBC12 of the year.
2020 is almost here, so check out the "most-clicked" stories on NBC12 of the year.(Pixabay)
Published: Feb. 3, 2020 at 6:17 AM CST
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Monday is National Football Hangover Day when millions of Americans are staying home to recover from the Super Bowl.

The Workforce Institute has done some real research on what it calls “Super Bowl Fever”. According to its survey, 17.5 million Americans are expected to miss work today. That’s the largest-ever anticipated day of Super Bowl-related absenteeism since the Workforce Institute started tracking this trend in 2005.

According to that survey, 11.1 million of those workers are pre-approved to take today off. 4.7 million of them plan to call in sick. Another 1.5 million workers told the Workforce Institute they’ll be “ghosting” their bosses today, meaning they won’t tell anyone they’re not coming in, they just won’t show up.

Then there are 7.9 million workers who haven’t decided yet how they’ll spend the day after the Super Bowl, telling the Workforce Institute they’re waiting until the last minute.

Read more about that survey here.

Skipping work on Super Bowl Monday could cost you. According to that same survey, nine percent of employees either witnessed or heard about a coworker getting in trouble or even fired for missing work on Monday after the Super Bowl. Another nine percent was personally spoken to or given a warning, and six percent of them were not allowed to use sick time or were docked pay because they weren’t really sick.

In another survey, the Workforce Institute partnered with the Society for Human Resource Management and found the cost of employees’ absences could reach up to 22 percent of base payroll. More than that, productivity takes a hit, and so does the morale of the workplace when managers and coworkers have to scramble to fill the gap.

That leads to the big question: Should Super Bowl Monday become a national holiday? Or should the Super Bowl’s date be changed to coincide with an existing holiday?

The Workforce Institute’s survey shows 40 percent of employees say Super Bowl Monday should become a National Holiday and nearly two thirds, 63 percent, say the Super Bowl should be moved to the Sunday night before Presidents Day, which is already a national holiday in February where some businesses close or cut back on their planned workload and staffing.

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