New York
CNN
—
Completely happy day-after-summer-solstice.
With a bit of luck, in case your employer has instituted a Summer time Fridays coverage, you’ll get to knock off work early and even take the entire time without work.
It’s at all times been a well-liked perk — as a result of who doesn’t wish to begin their weekend early?
Nonetheless, the vast majority of workers could not even have that possibility. Solely 13% of US workers, as an illustration, stated their organizations had Summer time Fridays, in a 2023 survey commissioned by consulting and analysis agency Gartner.
Amongst US employers, a survey final yr from HR consulting agency Mercer discovered that solely 19% stated they provided summer season working hours, up from 15% in 2021.
Nonetheless, some workers could have even higher choices at the moment, because of the transformation of work tradition spurred by the pandemic. With so many individuals pressured to earn a living from home for lengthy stretches, employers needed to shortly get accustomed to giving workers better flexibility in how, when and the place they get their work accomplished.
There isn’t a strategy to say definitively whether or not extra or fewer corporations are providing Summer time Friday choices at the moment than earlier than Covid-19 hit. However Caitlin Duffy, senior director of Gartner’s HR apply, stated she wouldn’t be stunned if Summer time Fridays change into much less of a featured profit from employers as a result of versatile work has change into a lot extra prevalent.
Duffy famous, as an illustration, that she’s seen elevated curiosity amongst employers in studying about four-day work weeks, noting that varied experiments have proven enhancements in worker efficiency and engagement. “Our shoppers are seeing all these advantages popping out of trials that intrigue them,” she stated.
Certainly, an a variety of benefits that summer season hours provide — corresponding to extra time to recharge and extra flexibility to make household plans — could also be accessible by different versatile choices. The identical 2023 Gartner survey discovered that 31% of US workers stated they take pleasure in versatile work hours whereas 18% stated that they had the choice of working 4 and a half days per week year-round and 10% stated they’ve a four-day workweek.
Nonetheless, Summer time Fridays are prone to stay a sexy perk as a part of an general paid time without work and work flexibility bundle, particularly to these whose corporations have insisted workers come into the workplace 5 days per week, stated Wealthy Fuerstenberg, senior accomplice in Mercer’s Well being Apply.
If you happen to’re working for an employer that doesn’t provide Summer time Fridays, otherwise you simply usually really feel that you just don’t have all the pliability you prefer to, on the very least take all the holiday days you’ve accrued.
Too few US staff do. Final yr, The Pew Research Center found that 46% of US staff didn’t take all of the paid time without work that their employer allowed.
And while you don’t take your days, you’re dishonest your self of the bodily relaxation and psychological break you recognize you want — and which studies suggest could make you a greater worker in the long term.
So, to your personal sake (and, in fact, that of your organization), take the time without work you’ve earned. And have an excellent weekend.