The FIFA World Cup 2026, hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, has been a huge hit. But while fans are celebrating, US companies are facing a massive productivity crisis as employees bunk work to watch the games.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 wrapped up with a blockbuster final between Spain and Argentina on Sunday night, Indian time. For weeks, football fans everywhere have been glued to their screens, be it TVs, laptops, or phones, cheering for their favourite teams and watching stars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, and Lamine Yamal work their magic.
But all this excitement has come at a price. A new report from human resources software company UKG says that the US economy has taken a massive hit of nearly $11.7 billion due to lost productivity. Globally, this figure could be as high as $17 billion.
Employees Skip Work for World Cup
So, what exactly happened? The UKG report claims that a huge number of employees either left work early, showed up late, or just took the day off to watch the World Cup matches. The impact was clearly visible this month. For instance, after the USA lost to Belgium on July 6, office attendance across the US dropped by a staggering 26% the next day.
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According to workplace management platform Envoy, this drop was almost 10 times more than what's usually seen the day after the Super Bowl, America's biggest sporting event, kind of like their IPL final. It wasn't just employees; the number of office visitors for things like client meetings, job interviews, and vendor appointments also fell by 32%, which is three times the post-Super Bowl dip. Unsurprisingly, employee absenteeism was at its peak on days following the US team's matches. Once the US was knocked out of the tournament, things slowly started getting back to normal.
Negative Impact on Productivity
A Bloomberg report points out that this isn't a new phenomenon in the US. Major sporting events like the Olympic Games or even big cultural moments like the release of movies Barbie and Oppenheimer have caused similar dips in office attendance before.
To deal with the World Cup craze, some companies tried to be proactive. In cities hosting the matches, many firms encouraged their employees to work from home to avoid traffic jams and travel chaos. Looking ahead, Envoy predicts that office attendance might dip slightly even after the final. However, since the US team isn't in the final, the impact is expected to be much smaller.
