- Super Bowl excitement can have a real impact on office productivity, but there are steps managers can take to keep work both fun and fruitful.
- Setting up structured activities and creating designated time and space to discuss the game lets enthusiasts enjoy themselves and keeps distraction contained.
- Making work a little bit more structured - and having more regular check-ins - can help with the week.
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When Super Bowl Sunday comes around, it leaves more than empty bags of chips and pizza boxes in its wake. The annual event costs companies almost half a billion dollars in lost productivity, according to a 2019 study from Captivate's Office Pulse.
With employees coming to work tired or hungover, showing up late, not showing up at all, or simply being distracted in the days before and after the big game, these losses are an unexpected consequence of an otherwise exciting tradition.
Angelique Rewers, founder and CEO of The Corporate Agent, identified presenteeism as the primary culprit. Presenteeism, she said, is the widespread issue of employees coming to work but not actually working, likely because they're not feeling well - or are distracted by football talk.
"The Super Bowl is such an important event that it can cause a decrease in productivity in the days surrounding it for businesses all around the world," Billy Boughey, founder and CEO of Elevate Experiences and author of "Culture Reconstructed," said.
Here's how companies can effectively plan ahead to minimize these productivity issues before and after Super Bowl 2020.