Business & Tech
Employees of Kraft Heinz Will Get Day After Super Bowl Off Work
Brand company opts to give full-time employees day off to promote possibility of "Super Bowl Monday" becoming a national holiday.
CHICAGO, IL - It’s been a hot topic for both serious and casual sports fans for quite some time. The day after the Super Bowl. It should be a national holiday, right? Talk about the possibility has gained momentum in recent years and there have been several online petitions seeking to take the first steps to make it happen.
That talk becomes a reality in 2017, at least for one well-known national company.
The Kraft Heinz Company, which has dual headquarters in Chicago and Pittsburgh, plans to give all of its full-time salaried employees a free vacation day on Monday, Feb. 6 - the day after the big game between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.
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The idea is to “relieve workers from dragging themselves into the office on the Monday after the game - a day that’s notorious for absenteeism,” according to Bloomberg, who first reported the company’s decision on Wednesday.
The move will affect thousands of workers and promotes the long talked about but never moved upon notion of a post-Super Bowl holiday. In addition, the company has begun a Change.org petition to make "SMUNDAY" a national holiday. In just one day, it has garnered more than 20,000 signatures.
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“We wanted to get behind an initiative that we know people feel strongly about,” said Nicole Kulwicki, a spokeswoman for the company told Bloomberg.
For Kraft Heinz, whose Midwest headquarters is now at the Aon Center in Chicago after moving there from north suburban Northfield in 2016, it’s a swift game plan change from what they did to promote the company during Super Bowl time last year.
In 2016, the company that produces several popular national brands including JELL-O, Oscar Mayer and Maxwell House decided to pay some $5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl ad that featured a bunch of dogs dressed as hot dogs.
The holiday is not in place for all employees of Kraft Heinz, which will still operate both its national facilities that day.
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