As I write this, it’s Friday afternoon, which means very few people will see this blog post or read it.
Anyone who publishes their own website or blog has an inside window to the ups and downs of America’s work habits. In particular, any online post (often shared on Facebook) after noon on a Friday produces very few “clicks” on the Internet.
At that point in time, most workers are leaving early for the weekend, or frantically finishing up a few tasks so they can at least sneak out an hour or two early, or avoid staying late on the job. This trend is especially prevalent in the warm, sunny summer months.
Yet, I have learned that this slackening of job production is becoming an accepted process across the nation.
CNBC recently reported this: “Companies are getting more creative about boosting employee morale and productivity by offering perks during the summer. Just over 40 percent of firms let down their hair a little during the hotter months, allowing employees to work a half day on Fridays, or even take the day off completely.”
That news report was based on a study by a business advisory firm known as Gartner, which found that 42 percent of the 220 companies they interviewed let employees take time off on summer Fridays. That number has doubled just since the same survey was conducted in 2015. Some firms simply give entire Fridays off during the summer season.
Human Resources corporate officials claim that the Friday slack-off boosts morale and encourages employees to finish their weekly work ahead of time. The rise of summer Friday afternoons off (pictured above) is traced back to Manhattan advertising agencies that concluded employee productivity “tanked” on the fifth day of the traditional work week.
When I was a daily newspaper reporter working the grind, our busiest day was always Friday. After all, we were understaffed and struggling to help fill three consecutive upcoming morning papers — Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
I was a political reporter who dealt with mostly government officials, many of whom were routinely unavailable on Friday afternoons. The only guy in the newsroom who was hamstrung by this pattern more than me was the criminal courts reporter. Legend has it that you could shoot a cannon down the hallways where the circuit court presides in our county and never hit anyone past lunch time on a Friday.
Many government workers, mostly those of a higher stature, by mid-Friday afternoon in the spring-summer-fall would be on the golf course or heading to “Up North” Michigan for leisure time.
When I was lucky enough to get in touch with a government official as the weekend loomed, his or her reaction routinely was: “You working late today?” They would often dodge my questions by suggesting disingenuously that they could get back to me with the information I sought but, sorry, it might not be for a few hours.
My standard response was: “OK, it’s Friday, the end of the week, and I’ll probably be here until at least 7 p.m.” That often rattled them.
Sometimes when I was agitated with the loose discipline of government work, I would add, with a snarky tone: “I have a job in the ‘real’ world, unlike you.”
That sarcasm was based on a lifetime of living among blue collar workers and retail employees in the Detroit area who enjoyed no such work-shortening privileges on a Friday.
Based on the CNBC report mentioned above, it seems that a substantial section of the private sector has decided they no longer want to be part of the real world. Instead, they want to embrace the 4½-day work week common among government employees.
Other than lowly journalists, is anybody in the nation concerned about this?
