Super Bowl LVIII: Employers are bracing for a breakout of ‘Super Flu’ on Monday

Employers can expect to see fewer faces in the office on Monday, thanks to the expected outbreak of “Super Flu,” as an estimated 16 million Americans are expected to call their bosses and pretend to be sick after the Super Bowl festivities on Sunday.

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A survey from UKG, a human resources, payroll, and workforce management solutions provider, estimated that 16.1 million U.S. employees plan to miss work the day after the Sunday Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Reuters reported.

The survey also found that 22.5 million U.S. employees, or 14% of the workforce, expect they will miss at least some work on Monday while 45 million say they’ll be less productive than usual.

“The Monday after Super Bowl has become the number one day in absenteeism or people taking a vacation day,” Derek Stevens, owner and CEO of several Las Vegas casinos including Circa, told Reuters. “It has become so significant.

According to Axios, state lawmakers have tried to make the Monday after the Super Bowl an official holiday.

The UKG report says that around 14.5 million adults have admitted to lying about being sick on the day after the Super Bowl, with 11% of those being managers.

Six million of those employees will risk a workplace penalty for their absence, and about 10 million people have already requested the day off.

What they’re saying: “Any major cultural event is a chance to bring people together and, for leaders, a chance to acknowledge that we have lives outside of work,” UKG CEO Chris Todd told Axios.

The survey also showed:

• 14% of U.S. employees — about 22.5 million 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 million 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 million 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.

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