While Summer Fridays certainly happen at some companies , a turgid chunk of the working universe must watch and weep at their desks while their friends post selfies atop giant pizza pie slice floaties a full half - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. before the weekend . Sure , your Summer Friday - ing friends feel bad for you , but no gyration was ever trigger by the Haves ; it ’s clock time the rest of America cast off its Friday good afternoon work shackles in pursuit of early weekend biography , liberty , iced tea leaf , and cornhole . Here is why Summer Friday should be a internal , summertime - longsighted , half - holiday .
Summer Fridays are good for your health
Prolonged period of strain , like the five - twenty-four hour period work week and baby-sit next to that co - worker who desk drums , precede to elevated level of cortisol , the “ stress hormone . ” That fight - or - flight stress reaction system is not supposed to stay on you know , and it does bad , bad things , physically and emotionally . The longer your cortisol levels remain at nosebleed meridian , the great the risk of depression and burnout . Summer Fridays break this weekly stress bike a few precious hours early , without the pressure of using up scant holiday days . Also , having something to depend forward to all workweek is mentally beneficial – the luminousness at the end of the tunnel is coming up faster than it usually would , and without trim down into that trip to Cancun .
Summer Fridays increase productivity
Let ’s get real here , the more prison term you spend at work , the more clock time you have for making four coffee run , direct brilliantly clock gifs of terrible ‘ 80s motion picture , and sit around in the bathroom contemplating your beingness . We spend so much time at work that , consort to a 2014 Gallup Poll , all the extra hours literally almost bring up to another work twenty-four hours – and we ’re only trying to get one-half of that extra twenty-four hours back citizenry !
That we ravage an extraordinary amount of time at work is not a late Revelation of Saint John the Divine . The first judgment of conviction of the essay on the British bureaucratic cognitive process , Parkinson ’s Law , published in The Economist in 1955 , encapsulates both knock out a 30 - page term paper in 24 hour , and its flipside – the room - too - foresightful body of work week : “ Work expands so as to fill the fourth dimension available for its completion . ”
And if that does n’t convince you , take a gander at this2010 study about knowledge conducted at the University of Illinois . player were made to perform a insistent task ; the ones who were given a prisonbreak during the allotted time were capable to complete their finish , while the ace who worked straight through were not . So Summer Fridays = Super Efficient , Turbo - charge Mondays .
Photo: Daniel Restrepo/Prop Stylist: Amy Taylor
Summer Fridays are the gateway drug to actually using up your vacation days
People need break , and they are n’t taking them . The U.S. Travel Association estimate that 55 % of Americans did not use up all their vacation days in 2015 . That ’s more than one-half of us ! Some company have tried to get the great unwashed to take their vacations by giving them bonuses they ’re only allow to use on their time off . It ’s not like retaking the SATs hoi polloi ! This is fun !
So you ca n’t hale your burnt - out employee to take a vacation , and you do n’t have the money to bribe them . Why not start diminished , with the low Summer Friday ?
Summer Fridays are good for the environment
It ’s simple – employee use mode more energy in their well - light , atmosphere - condition offices , stir up up sorry ramen cup than if they were sipping cocktail poolside number 1.15pm on Fridays . Take Utah , where vigour consumption was cut by 13 % when former Governor Jon Huntsman mandated a four - day workweek for province employees . Ok , the practice ended in 2011 when they did n’t meet their pecuniary goal , but we ’re claim this as a profits for Team Summer Friday .
A 2015 New York Times Magazine clause , titledLetter of Recommendation : Summer Fridays , point out that power consumption on this almost - holiday fall to about 4 % below the day-by-day norm for NYC . ( It also look up to Summer Fridays as the “ aphrodisiacal , freckled , bare arms of capitalism , ” which seems like another great reasonableness to get on board . ) So we say save the ground and make it sexier by mandating Summer Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day .
Summer Fridays make companies more attractive to potential investors
establish on the findings of a 2014 work , employee - friendly company that advocate work - life equilibrium are raking in the dough . Why ? It ’s all about appearance : They appear like solid investment material , “ less likely to violate laws and regulation , be involved in judicial proceeding , or experience employee stealing and put-on . ” And that ’s not even count the smiling faces that pour out of the office staff during peak sunshine hour every Friday . That ’s beautiful .
Even better , they found that employee - friendly firms have superior market value , high retort on assets , and better repay on equity . In conclusion , If you ’re take care for the nice Guy , they ’ll be at the front of the finish melodic line , definitely NOT end last , and most in spades not working Summer Fridays .
Photo: Daniel Restrepo/Prop Stylist: Amy Taylor
