Super Bowl 2024: US employers brace for 'Super Flu' outbreak. What is it?

Post the Super Bowl Sunday, businesses across the US are bracing for an expected "Super Flu" outbreak.

One of America’s most-awaited game nights, the Super Bowl 2024, took place at the Allegiant Stadium in Nevada, Las Vegas on Sunday. The game, between Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49 ers saw the former beat the latter 25-22 in overtime and win the Lombardi Trophy. Post the big match, businesses across the United States are bracing for an outbreak of the “Super Bowl Flu” or simply the “Super Flu” on Monday.

An estimated 16.1 million employees plan to miss work the day after the Super Bowl Sunday, a survey from UKG, a human resources, payroll, and workforce management solutions provider, claimed according to Reuters. As the game night concludes, employers can expect to see fewer faces in the office on Monday as millions of Americans call in sick to work, owing to the festivities.

“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.

"Monday people are hanging around all day then they hit the bricks on Tuesday."

The survey by UKG 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.

According to Axios, state lawmakers have also tried to declare the Monday after the Super Bowl an official holiday. Meanwhile, the UKG report also stated that 14.5 million Americans have admitted to lying about being sick on the day after the Super Bowl, with 11% of those being managers.

"I already called in sick," an employee told News Nation. “Monday should be a national holiday, absolutely. The day after the Super Bowl, whenever that falls. The plan is to work remote, as little as possible,” one Super Bowl attendee said.

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