The Incredible Shrinking Work Week
You hear it every day, “Time are tough.” “Everyone is working longer hours.” But something sinister is happening in the workplace. The work week is actually shrinking
What started as a subtle shift is gaining momentum – and attracting attention. The Fourth of July is this Friday, but business will be slow all week and people will leave work – either mentally or physically - early on Thursday. Same thing happened for Memorial Day. Our cherished three-day holidays have somehow expanded. These bloated holidays are turning entire work weeks into slow-motion quagmires. What’s going on here?
Both Christmas and New Year’s Day fell in the middle of the week last year and the business world seemed to grind to a halt for two whole weeks. If someone told you to shut down your business for two weeks, you’d say you couldn’t afford it. But if it happens as the result of holiday overspill, oh well…
A few months ago, I called the General Motors World Headquarters on a Monday morning. Nobody home. Later, someone told me that they were shut down for Easter Monday. Easter MONDAY? Who invented Easter Monday? Add that to the half day off for Good Friday and Easter now hacks off bits of two work weeks.
The economy is bad and times are tough. Yet here’s this alarming trend toward holidays and even weekends bleeding into what used to be known as “the work week”. Fridays are already nearly useless. Try to reach business owners or decision makers on a Friday afternoon and you’ll see what I mean. Not that it matters if they’re absent; no one makes decisions on Friday anymore. Everything waits until Monday – unless of course, it’s Easter Monday, or the Monday before Christmas Eve…
Recent Comments