Professionals who get free Friday afternoons during the summer

During the summer, many professionals want the weekend to start as early as possible.

While most workers have to wait for the end of the day on Friday, a small group is free to start the weekend early in the United States.

These are “Summer Fridays”—a benefit that some companies provide, allowing employees to stop work early or take the day off, in the months of June, July and August (the Northern Hemisphere’s summer).

It’s a great privilege, says Vicki Salemi, a consultant at human resources website Monster.com.

She had summer Fridays for the first time at a job in New York. “It was wonderful, because every Friday afternoon I would visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

In addition to granting more rest time, Salemi explains that the benefit encourages the commitment and spirit of professionals.

It also takes advantage of the low summer traffic in many offices—employees and customers often take vacations during these months, so there’s less work to do.

Studies show that productivity at work drops a lot in the summer for these reasons.

There is not much concrete data on the history of summer Fridays. Some reports indicate that they originated in New York in the 1960s.

As in an episode of the TV series Mad Men, advertising executives left early on Fridays to travel to the Hamptons, a trendy region east of Long Island.

An old record can be found in an article about this benefit published by The New York Times in 1988.

“From a management perspective, daylight saving hours are acceptable because they are of limited duration and — unlike salary increases or greater health care coverage — they do not become a permanent part of the salary benefits package.”

Today, summer Fridays still have a strong association with New York, where they are common among workers in industries such as finance, media and technology.

But in recent years they have spread beyond the city and become more common. Data indicate that about 10% of American companies offered the benefit in 2015. And in 2017, 42% of the thousand companies listed by Fortune magazine offered summer Fridays.

luxury for few

But, as many professionals know, this is a luxury not available to everyone. It is something that mainly depends on the sector of activity.

“It’s not something evenly distributed in the job market. Definitely, it’s knowledge professionals, with high training, who work in an office, [em setores] where the summer is slow,” says Stephan Meier, professor of management at Columbia Business School in New York.

Many workplaces have the same level of activity on Friday as other days of the week — hotels and hospitals, for example — and taking that time off is not an option.

Salemi also points to e-commerce, logistics and industry as examples where summer Fridays would not work.

And there are still sectors that face peak summer work. As an example, one of New York’s two annual fashion weeks takes place in late summer or early fall, and fashion professionals have a double workload at this time.

Summer Fridays also tend to benefit permanent employees and exclude less-benefited employees such as freelancers. or outsourced.

Salemi points out that if bosses are off duty and freelancers aren’t getting work, freelancers can earn less money, especially if they’re paid by the hour (or by the task).

“It can impact your day and your workflow, your income and your income,” she says.

And even for those who benefit from politics, summer Fridays are meaningless if bosses set a bad example at work, as with any other benefit that offers more time off.

“In some company cultures, there can be pressure” not to take Fridays out of summer, says Salemi.

A boss who tacitly pressures his employees to stay in the office or check messages when they should be off completely eliminates the purpose of summer Fridays.

Possible ‘retention strategy’

But can such a benefit become more common? Some experts say it is possible, because the desires and demands of professionals have changed – and gained a voice – during the pandemic.

After all, Covid-19 has demonstrated that professionals value flexibility, and summer Fridays certainly fit that bill. And they can help companies manage employee stress.

“Summer Fridays are a pre-pandemic benefit in some industries, but they represent a simple way for employers to avoid employee burnout, helping them to strike a balance after several years of work and personal life intermingling. working remotely,” says Alison Sullivan of careers website Glassdoor.

Vicki Salemi agrees that summer Fridays improve mental health and reduce burnout. Stephan Meier considers the benefit “a retention strategy” because some employees may value it more than money, especially if the pay gap is relatively small.

Meier says this could make summer Fridays more common. For him, “more and more companies are discovering what motivates people” in terms of benefits — and it’s not ping-pong tables or free food.

He claims that summer Fridays “are something that not all companies can successfully deliver, so those that do promote them will have a competitive advantage.”

What’s more, in an era of immense changes in the workplace, they fuel another debate that’s been gathering steam amid the pandemic: whether companies could introduce the four-day workweek.

“Summer Fridays can be a test” for shorter workweeks throughout the year, according to Salemi.

Meier agrees: “I fully believe there’s a way to find out how much we can get done in four days. Let’s give people more Fridays off: fall Fridays, spring Fridays.”

But for now, summer Fridays remain a coveted perk — precious time off, only for the lucky few. But that would certainly please almost everyone.

“Summer doesn’t last forever. It passes very quickly”, says Salemi. “So let’s enjoy it.”

This text was originally published here.