As the Kansas City Chiefs go for the record-breaking three-peat victory this Sunday, U.S. workplaces could see a record of their own on Monday: employee absences. An estimated 22.6 million employed Americans plan to miss work the day after Super Bowl LIX — up from 16.1 million last year. This breaks the previous record of 18.8 million U.S. employees who said they’d be out in 2023 — which, coincidentally, was the last time the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles faced off in the big game.
“Although a record number of employees plan to miss work on Monday, we continue to see forward progress with managers and employees having more open conversations about taking the day off, swapping shifts, or making arrangements to come in late so that the business is covered.”
The longstanding survey from UKG finds millions of employed Americans have a game plan for Monday: from the trick plays — such as calling in sick even if they’re not actually sick (about 3.2 million) and “ghosting” their employer by skipping work without telling anyone (another 3.2 million) — to taking a pre-approved day off (12.9 million) or swapping shifts with a co-worker so they don’t have to work on Monday (4.8 million). An additional 12.9 million U.S. employees say they’ll go into work late on Monday after the Super Bowl. This is all according to new research conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of UKG, which has tracked the big game’s impacts on employee absenteeism, presenteeism, and productivity for two decades.
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“We launched this research years ago to start a conversation to help organizations prepare for unplanned absences — people playing hooky or ghosting work altogether — because of the Super Bowl and other pop-culture events that impact work,” said Julie Develin, senior partner of HCM advisory at UKG, which is a leading global provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions. “Although a record number of employees plan to miss work on Monday, we continue to see forward progress with managers and employees having more open conversations about taking the day off, swapping shifts, or making arrangements to come in late so that the business is covered.”
More Organizations Covering the Blind Side
Despite the record number of absenteeism expected this year, the UKG survey shows increased transparency among employees, people managers, and organizations:
- 68% of U.S. employees say they talk to their manager before they submit their time-off requests (vs. 62% in 2024);
- 58% of people managers who plan to watch the big game this year say they planned to ask their employees directly about their time-off plans for the Super Bowl (vs. 51% in 2024); and
- 55% of U.S. employees say they feel comfortable asking their manager for time off the Monday after the Super Bowl (vs. 50% in 2023).
A similar portion of U.S. employees are also taking a pre-approved day off this year, compared with the past two years (8% in 2025 vs. 6% in 2024 vs. 7% in 2023), and 3% of employees plan to swap their Monday shift with someone else. Only a small percentage of employees plan to play hooky and call in sick even though they aren’t really sick (2%) or ghost their employer (2%) on Monday.
These survey results suggest organizations may be better planning for appropriate shift coverage rather than scrambling at the last minute to fill scheduling gaps — especially within the frontline workforce —which is positively reflected in the UKG Workforce Activity Report that analyzes weekly shift data from over 6.2 million active U.S. employees to provide greater insight into the American labor economy.
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Productivity May Take a Hit, as National Holiday Debate Drives Forward
Besides the millions of U.S. employees who plan to miss work on Monday — and the additional estimated 8 million9 who say they’ll make a game-time decision about what to do — many millions more, including people managers, may take a hit on workplace productivity.
- An estimated 17.7 million10 U.S. employees say they will be working on Super Bowl Sunday, but they still plan to watch at least some of the game.
- This includes more than 1 in 10 (13%) people managers working on Sunday.
- Of the employed Americans who plan to watch the Super Bowl this year, 4 in 10 (40%) say they’ll be distracted by Super Bowl media coverage when they work the Monday after the game — a significant increase from last year’s 28%.
- Nearly half (49%) of all people managers who plan to watch the Super Bowl say they’ll be distracted on Monday, too.
- Over a third (36%) of U.S. employees who plan to watch the Super Bowl this year say they’ll be less productive than they normally are at work on Monday after the Super Bowl — up from 30% in 2024.
Meanwhile, 43% of employed Americans think the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday — up from 37% who said so in 2024 — and more than half (56%) who plan to watch the Super Bowl wish their organization gave them the day off on Monday after the big game.
Survey Also Uncovers the Most Popular In-Office Days
Aside from the Super Bowl, and amid more employees returning to physical workplaces across America, the UKG survey also uncovered the most common days for in-person workplace collaboration. About 80% of U.S. employees say they report to physical workplace full time or have a hybrid-work arrangement. For these employees, the most popular days in the office are Tuesday (74%), Wednesday (71%), and Thursday (69%) in the top three, followed by Monday (60%), Friday (46%), Saturday (13%), and Sunday (8%).
About 8 million U.S. employees this year also plan to leverage flexibility options at their workplaces and work remotely from home the day after the Super Bowl, even though they’d usually work at a physical workplace on Monday.
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Source – businesswire
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