On Monday, many Americans saw a total solar eclipse for the first time in their lives. The last time United States denizens had a clear line of sight for a total solar eclipse was in 1979, according to a report by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, Inc. So, American workers were more than willing to interrupt their banal daily routines to catch a glimpse of the historical event.

And financial experts were busy calculating the losses. According to the aforementioned report, the solar eclipse cost companies throughout the nation almost $700 million in lost time. Challenger, Gray, and Christmas estimated that 87,307,940 Americans would be at work during the eclipse and that each worker would take 20 minutes, on average, to gather his/her viewing supplies, travel to an appropriate viewing site, watch the two-and-a-half minute eclipse, and return to work.

The average hourly wage is $23.86, so if each worker takes a third of an hour to view the eclipse, he/she will cost his/her company $7.95. Multiply that figure by the estimated number of Americans at work during the eclipse and you find that U.S. employers lost approximately $694,098,123 as a result of the event.

Employers in areas which lie on the eclipse’s “path of totality” lost a combined $200 million, the report estimates. In Chicago, which lies just off of the totality path, employees “stole” $28 million worth of time.

However, the report notes that, in most cities, the eclipse occurred around lunch time, when workers are already taking breaks. “Since this is happening over the lunch hours, the financial impact is minimal,” said Andrew Challenger, Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in the report.

Moreover, preventing employees from viewing the eclipse would likely do more damage to morale than allowing viewing would do to the bottom line.

So, Challenger advised employers not to “board their windows and keep employees locked up in conference room meetings until the eclipse ends.”

“Rather,” he says, “looking for how to turn this lack of productivity into a way to increase morale and strengthen the team is a much better use of the eclipse.”

Challenger adds that the eclipse, in fact, “offers a great opportunity to boost morale. Employers could offer lunch to their staff, give instructions on how to make viewing devices, and watch together as a team.”

The eclipse’s “path of totality,” which encompasses the locations from which viewers could see the eclipse in all its fullness, travelled from the Pacific Northwest—those in Newport, Oregon, saw the eclipse at 10:15 a.m. local time—through the midwest—Troy, Kansas residents saw the eclipse at 1:05 pm local time—and into the Southeast—the eclipse hit Clayton, GA at 2:35 pm Eastern. Click here for a full list of locales within the “path of totality.”

Many people traveled to such locales to view the event. According to US News, AAA Mid-Atlantic issued an advisory preparing travelers for “huge crowds of eclipse watchers, long lines and roadside delays caused by the influx of travelers from other states into prime eclipse-viewing destinations.”

GreatAmericanEclipse.com says most American’s live within a day’s drive of some location within the eclipse’s path of totality. Further, because August is a popular vacationing time, the site points out, many people presumably planned getaways around the eclipse.

The event’s effect on auto traffic, the site says, was akin to that of “20 Woodstock festivals occurring simultaneously across the nation.”

Whatever toll the eclipse took on the average American employer, it likely provided a proportionate boost to the country’s travel industry. Lodging enterprises benefited from an influx of eclipse-seekers, and towns not ordinarily considered tourist destinations became the epicenters of eclipse-viewing.

The next total solar eclipse visible on American soil will occur on April 8, 2024, per greatamericaneclipse.com. The path of totality will stretch from Mexico through central Texas, Arkansas, Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Montreal, Canada.

After 2024, North America will not see another total eclipse until 2045. So, get your gear and make your travel arrangements.

And tell your boss you’re taking a long lunch on April 8, 2024.

Featured image via Twitter/V3ctor