Companies and the economy suffer significant financial losses at the end of the week due to exhausted and demotivated employees. «Focus Fridays» are now expected to reverse this trend.
Getting more out of Fridays has been a goal for human resources managers since the introduction of the five-day workweek. However, for most employees, Friday is stubbornly associated with the anticipation of the weekend, resulting in a decline in performance at the end of the workweek. This trend accumulates over time, as suggested by a study from the USA.
On an annual basis, unproductive employees cost the US economy around $1.9 trillion, as calculated by research institute Gallup. The list of attempts to counteract this decline in performance is long. Even Swiss financial firms have adopted the «Casual Friday» practice, where strict dress codes are relaxed once a week.
Getting into the Weekend Earlier
Behind this strategy lies a clear calculation: The concession to casual attire aims to entice as many employees as possible to the office. In the USA, experiments have also been conducted with free pizzas and ice cream, or with «Summer Fridays»: Employees were allowed to leave early on summer Fridays.
However, the success of this approach has been limited, particularly as many employees saw the intention behind it. The relaxations and gifts were then seen as patronizing rather than genuine gestures of goodwill.
Freed from Meetings
But the HR departments have already come up with the next twist, as reported recently by the agency «Bloomberg»: «Flow Fridays» or «Focus Fridays» is the latest trend.
Instead of relying on relaxation, these concepts focus on work, with employees dedicating the day mainly to unfinished tasks. In other words, they are allowed to forego anything that distracts them from this «focus» – especially meetings, which are often experienced as unproductive.
According to the report, the initial experiences with the day reserved solely for personal tasks are positive.
Nothing More to Gain
However, other companies have become disillusioned, concluding that there is simply no productivity left on Friday afternoons. Consequently, this has led to a shift to a four-and-a-half-day workweek.
However, this is not without risk either. «Who guarantees that the staff won't already be exhausted by Thursday afternoon after an even more condensed week?»
