Super Bowl 'flu'? Record number of employees didn't go to work Monday, poll suggests
(NEXSTAR) – A record number of Americans are reportedly coming down with a severe case of the Mondays after Sunday night's Super Bowl, according to a new poll.
A survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of workplace solutions firm UKG in January indicated that an estimated 22.6 million Americans were planning to be absent from work on the Monday after the Super Bowl. Just over half claimed they were planning to ask for the day off in advance, but others outright admitted to faking sick (an estimated 3.2 million) or “ghosting” their bosses and workplaces altogether (another 3.2 million), the survey suggested.
The overall absentee rate — 22.6 million — is also the highest estimate since the UKG began tracking the trend.
If there’s an upside to the survey, it’s that employees are more open about their intentions than in previous years.
“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,” Julie Develin, a UKG executive, said in a blog post.
Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate the team's victory at Super Bowl LIX in the streets near Philadelphia City Hall in Philadelphia on Feb. 9, 2025. (Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s worth noting that the poll is based on a survey of a relatively small group of Americans — just 1,220 employed adults. UKG and The Harris Poll then divided the total number of employed American adults (161,661,000, based on a December report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics) by the percentage of survey respondents who claimed they’d be out on Monday to get their estimate. Data was also weighed by “age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, household income, education, marital status, size of household, and political party affiliation,” according to The Harris Poll.
In any case, the rate of participants who planned to be absent from work on Monday for any reason — 14 percent — was higher than in 2024 and 2023, when 10 percent and 12 percent said the same, respectively.
Making the situation a little stickier, perhaps, is that actual influenza cases in the U.S. are indeed spiking. In late January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded “very high” rates of flu activity in 27 states, with only a handful seeing “low” or “minimal” numbers of cases.
The CDC didn’t say, however, whether the rate of illnesses among Chiefs or Eagles fans specifically was especially troubling in the days leading up to the Super Bowl.
“May be calling out sick tomorrow,” one Eagles fan wrote on social platform X while cheering on his team during the game. “Got that birds flu.”
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