Survey claims Melbourne Cup costs $1 billion in lost productivity – but it’s all worth it for employers

The Melbourne Cup might be known as the race that stops the nation, but it’s also the race that stops Australian workers.

While Melbourne workers enjoy a public holiday on Cup Day, a survey of 889 workers around the country found employees take an average of 3.5 hours off work to enjoy the race and associated festivities.

According to recruitment and HR consultancy Randstad, the cost of that lost productivity is around $1 billion, based on ABS statistics that indicate there are approximately 11, 276, 100 full-time employees in Australia, earning an average wage of $31.40 per hour.

The survey showed 12.1% of workers choose to take the entire day off, while about 47% take part in some form of office-organised event, such as sweepstakes (something 38% of workers get involved in) or an office function (25% of workers).

Just 15% only stop long enough to watch the race before returning to work.

However, employers who might be throwing their hands up in disgust at the thought of all this lost productivity should consider using the event to their advantage.

At a time when employers want to improve staff retention, some Cup Day fun could be the perfect way of getting the team together – particularly if your staff are going to be distracted anyway.

Randstad CEO Deb Loveridge agrees.

“While employers should be aware of the Cup’s overall effect on their businesses’ bottom line, the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term costs,” she says.

“In fact, employers may damage their company culture, reputation and retention if they don’t get involved, such is the passion, excitement and anticipation around the Cup.”

Oh, and if you’re organising the Melbourne Cup sweep this year, keep in mind that torrential rain is forecast for Melbourne over the weekend.

If you can “organise” things so you can get a mudlark such as Descarado in the office sweep, you could recoup the costs of any lost productivity pretty quickly!

SmartCompany will bring you its annual Rich Secrets guide to the Melbourne Cup on Monday, plus our last-minute tips on Tuesday morning.