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HR

How to Drive Engagement on 'Super Bowl Monday'

We all know about Super Bowl Sunday. But what about Super Bowl Monday? That’s right—many have suggested that the day after the big game should be a national holiday. Heinz even created a petition.

According to a recent survey by Robert Half, 27 percent of employees will skip work after the Super Bowl. We set out to determine whether employees are officially requesting Monday off as a day of PTO. Looking into our database of over 350,000 employees, it turns out that there is no significant hike in PTO taken the Monday after the Super Bowl.

But just because employees are not making their vacation request official, it doesn’t mean that company productivity won’t be a concern for HR. Productivity will likely take a timeout after a long night of celebrating (or mourning) the results of game day. In fact, the aforementioned survey also reveals that 72 percent HR managers think the Super Bowl should be a paid company holiday.

Assuming your office is staying open on Monday, HR can play a big part in helping employees keep their eyes on the ball. Consider these five tips to help your team beat post-game burnout.
 

1. Embrace the Inevitability

The reality is that most of your employees are going to be at least a little bit tired, distracted, or moving more slowly than on a typical Monday. While you can’t force employees to stay focused, understand that Monday may well be a quiet day of mindless tasks for many employees. If you can accept this, you can offer thoughtful incentives to help engage employees throughout the day.
 

2. Arm Employees With Fuel

If past Super Bowls have led to employees trickling into the office much later than usual, incentivize their attendance with fresh bagels and coffee on Monday morning. Nothing gets employees up and moving like a company-sponsored “breakfast of champions” (in fact, we do this every Monday at Namely). This will help drive employees to start their day bright and early and give them an opportunity to rehash game highlights with coworkers.
 

3. Stock the Front Desk

In general, it’s a great idea to keep a small stash of ibuprofen on hand whenever a headache might arise. Whether employees celebrated a little too hard, punched the table after a bad play (party foul!), or simply couldn’t sleep because of their spouse shouting at the TV all night, anything you can do to help them get through the day will be a touchdown.
 

4. Plan Ahead

Work with managers to ensure that no major deadlines fall on Super Bowl Monday, as we’ll call it. Employees are unlikely to be at full capacity the day after the big game, so try to move any critical deadlines to account for the slow day.
 

5.  Break it Up

To help boost energy, create opportunities for employees to break up an otherwise long day. Consider screening the best commercials over lunch, or encourage managers to call a timeout and take their team out for a coffee break. If everyone is sitting at their desks, zoned out on their inbox, not much is going to get done.



One HR consulting firm estimates that employees who don’t show up on Monday will cost companies over $3 billion. Don’t be part of that losing statistic. Whichever team you’re rooting for this Sunday, get ready to be the office MVP come Super Bowl Monday. And whatever you do, don’t fumble it.

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