People Are Working Fewer Friday Hours, but Work Is Still Getting Done
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Here's your money briefing for Friday, March 29th.
How has Friday work-from-home behavior changed since the pandemic started?
I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. For some, post-pandemic Fridays have become a work-from-home day, maybe run a few errands day, and an opportunity to get an early start on the weekend. But that doesn't necessarily mean worker productivity has suffered.
Friday is the day of the week that is both very new and different and still stuck in the pandemic, whereas the rest of the week we've kind of reached some sort of approximation of normal. And you see that showing up in all sorts of facets of life.
We'll talk to WSJ's Vanessa Furmans after the break.
Listen at schwab.com slash washingtonwise.
Some people are working a lot less on Fridays than they used to. Is that a good thing? WSJ's Vanessa Furmans joins me. Vanessa, is working from home on Fridays for the most part here to stay?
Why are significantly more people working from home on Fridays than other weekdays?
It might be. When you look at the data, the percentages of people who work from home on Fridays is just a lot higher than the rest of the week. The rest of the week has really kind of bounced back, or at least midweek in terms of companies that have hybrid work models. But on Fridays, at least half of people are still working from home, and that number has not really budged since the last two years.
How does Friday as a workday now compare to the way it was during the pandemic?
We all remember casual Fridays, and Friday might be the day you cut out early to go to happy hour. It was a little more low-key in the office. Now a lot of us aren't in the office whatsoever. And I noticed my own sort of attitude toward Fridays shifting differently. as we came out of the pandemic. So I wanted to look and see just exactly how it's changed. And it really struck me. Friday is the day of the week that is both very new and different and still stuck in the pandemic, whereas the rest of the week we've kind of reached some sort of approximation of normal. And you see that showing up in all sorts of facets of life.
If people are signing out of work on Fridays an hour earlier than the rest of the week, which the data showed, are there concerns about less productivity?
There are a lot of CEOs and other business leaders who have concerns about that. And I see on social media lots of debate about how, oh, we're already at a four-day work week because people aren't coming into the office on Fridays. That's not really true. People are working on Fridays, and they have a lot more autonomy than they used to. They don't have to have the same things. FaceTime in the office or virtually for that matter. A lot of companies are creating meeting free zones on Fridays or what they call focus Fridays. And a lot of people say they might have a shorter, lighter day on Friday, but when they're working more intensively and they're working more effectively.
But there is still the stigma that you never can quite tell if people are actually working on days that they're at home, right?
Does leaving work earlier on Fridays reduce overall productivity?
Yes and no. Your immediate manager might not be able to see every move you're making, but a lot of companies now have installed what we call productivity tracking software, and they can monitor what A lot of us are doing on our computers, not granular what we're watching or looking at on our computers, but they can see how actively we are emailing or in meetings or how full our calendars are. That's a whole other issue about workplace surveillance, but it does yield a lot of data about how we're working on Fridays. A lot of CEOs suspect that we're not working very much or we're slacking off on Fridays.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:36
2
How has Friday work-from-home behavior changed since the pandemic started?
0:36–2:08
3
Why are significantly more people working from home on Fridays than other weekdays?
2:08–4:09
4
Does leaving work earlier on Fridays reduce overall productivity?
4:09–6:30
5
How do companies use 'Focus Fridays' and productivity tracking to manage remote work?
6:30–8:05
6
How have Friday routines shifted consumer behavior like dining, traffic and appointments?
8:05–9:07
7
Could half-day Fridays be a safer alternative to a four-day workweek?
9:07–10:26
8
What evidence suggests Friday flexibility doesn't harm promotions, performance or attendance?
10:26–11:07
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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