TGIT Has My Vote

Yesterday morning I was reading an article that I really wish could find its way into the human resources department or whatever department or person it needs to in order to have it get a serious look and consideration. That being the four day workweek and the weekly three day weekends.

The topic does come up a lot, interestingly not as much as it use to around my company, not sure why that is the case and I am all-for it starting to come up again and be discussed, even if in side chatter conversations, closed door meetings and so on, if people are talking about it they are thinking about it which means it has potential to become infectious and spread to those that can make bigger decisions about putting it into place.

From what I've read so far, most companies see up to a 43% increase in productivity from all disciplines that have the four day week. There are those that simply cannot work four days if they are the only person that does that job or for example they are the front desk personnel. As they said in the article, there needs to be someone there all the time. Obviously you cannot greet someone remotely if necessary. I beg to differ, though in practice it would not be very professional or ideal for many reasons that should be obvious.

Open Office vs. Out of Office

I think the whole idea of getting more work out of employees by transforming entire office environments into 'open office' environments is a huge waste of money, time and resources. I think that it's a very disruptive change for many, others just go with the flow no matter the issue at hand or the amount of change so long as they have the time and the tools to perform their job, be comfortable and have a decent work and life balance.

With open environments I think that you are merely mixing things up by laying it all out on the table, following trends and not making paths of your own. Most that are 'for' this are not doing so because they have vision or grandiose ideas as to why it's conducive to a particular environment, more times it's likely they want to piss on something and call it their own based off something they heard was a great idea and if it worked for them it will work for us. It's not that black and white.

Of course the exact same thing can be said for the four day week. It's nothing new, nothing that I just came up with while sipping my morning coffee. At the same time, it's something that makes change for the better in more ways than are immediately apparent.

Simply having that extra day to get things done, doctor appointments and so on. Spending the time with your family and friends or getting a jump start on your favorite past-time or hobby. More times than not my guess is that many employees will continue to work those days as well, if even only a little bit because those are the same ones that would give you a few hours on a Saturday as well without you giving the slightest hint of needing to do so.

There are semantics involved and scheduling would need to be more thought out, something many corporations, especially those in my industry would need to work on and polish. It's not as easy as taking a few classes, getting everyone to 'buy-in' on a new technology or catchphrase for working smarter or better. It's good old fashion planning and organization.

It will not be perfect overnight and may never be,  that is the great thing. You can, as they suggest in the article, simply start it out slowly by having the first week of the month be a four day week and if it works then introduce more or jump in with both feet and do the entire month. I would rather start slowly if it were up to me.

For Now We Only Have TGIF

So for now and the immediate future from what I can tell we have TGIF and the Thank Goodness It's Thursday will have to wait. For now, Friday will remain the focus and we will have our five days of open office environments, catchphrase morning meetings and so on to round out the days. Big picture probably wasting time that could instead be better spent with family or friends.

As proven, the general population of workers, the majority really, is more focused and goal oriented when driving towards a four day work week. The shorter days in the week sets a precedence to get things done in a timely matter, squeeze out those things that really don't matter and move on. Again, saving both time and money - well sanity too.

So until then, I will grab my favorite coffee mug, chug down the last sip of my morning brew, grab my backpack and head out the door with my family to start another day. I won't waste time stewing on the fact that I still have one more day this week while many others in the same industry or similar may not.

What I can and will do is continue to give 100% every-single-day of my five day work week. Then, should the option come up one day to work within a TGIT kind of week don't be surprised to find me standing at the front of the line with my undivided support.

Photo: We do not have the luxury of the four days of work and three days of weekends, yet. As mentioned, I for one am in full support of this. Until then, the weekend is almost here and I plan to enjoy it as best I can - you should as well, unless you are a 'four day work week' person. If so, well then screw you, you lucky ass!

Maybe one day we'll have TGIT instead!