TGIF! Don’t you just love Fridays, the end of the working week and the start of the precious weekend. With more freedoms to be enjoyed, there is a growing acknowledgement that workplaces are slowing to a halt on Friday afternoons. As the weather improves, it would appear that many employees are escaping early.

Some will be fortunate enough to have the option to finish early on Friday if they work flexible hours. As we reported in the February issue of Office VIBES, some businesses are moving to a four- day working week. Others are opting to take a pay cut so not to work Fridays but research would suggest that many workers are choosing to fake-work as employers are unable to track where they really are.

If you are choosing to meet up with friends socially, do the chores in advance or simply recharge before the weekend starts on company time, how long will it be before you get caught breaking your employment contract?

Kellogg’s recently encouraged staff to take a break from their screens by giving them Friday afternoons off. Many employers will be realistic about the downturn in productivity on Friday afternoons so it could be advantageous to discuss with your manager that in the summer, you would like to work longer hours during the week to finish at 12 o’clock on a Friday. This is not practical for many businesses, especially those in public facing roles, but it could be that they offer you one Friday every few weeks as an alternative option.

This is a huge change in business culture but with such a decline in productivity and employees going on the missing list on Friday afternoons, companies could reap massive rewards in loyalty and productivity if they embrace that Friday feeling. Post-Covid, forward thinking businesses are looking for innovative ways to attract the best talent, especially after the Great Resignation, so they could well be open-minded to an early start to the weekend.