Some agencies are giving summer Fridays a second look so employees can ‘enjoy their life again’

By Kristina Monllos

Last week, Influence & Co. began to implement summer Fridays for the first time. The content marketing’s new perk means the work week ends at noon on Fridays for employees from May to August — a benefit execs wanted to offer to acknowledge the stress due to the pandemic and to give time as the increasingly vaccinated population in the United States allows some leisure activities to return.

“We felt like people needed more time to recharge,” said Kelsey Raymond, CEO of Influence & Co. “And people likely had a lot of things built up they were wanting to do (travel, doctor appointments, hair appointments) that they haven’t been doing in the last 15 months that we wanted to give them more time.”

The agency is one of a number giving summer Fridays a second look either by adding them for the first time, encouraging employees to take advantage of existing summer Friday policies or beefing them up. Agency executives say that the increased focus on taking advantage of summer Fridays this year is to help employees take the time they need to relax, improve mental health after a difficult year and avoid burnout.

“The pandemic has dramatically impacted our balance between work and personal life,” said Barbara Jobs, chief human resources officer at Publicis Groupe US Marketing Services. “It goes without saying that restrictions on travel and socializing have disrupted our personal boundaries, often resulting in longer work hours and fewer breaks.”

Specifying a summer Friday policy wasn’t the case last year for Publicis in the U.S., but the holding company is doing so this year. “Our employees’ well-being is our top priority, and with the vaccine becoming increasingly available and some restrictions beginning to ease, we are encouraging our people to use the summer months to safely reconnect with loved ones and take meaningful time off,” said Jobs. “For some that may mean taking an additional few Fridays off, or extending time off around our already long holiday weekends.”

For some agencies, summer Fridays come in the form of a half-day where all employees log off in the early afternoon. Others are giving a few full Fridays throughout the summer or experimenting with new more flexible arrangements for employees.

Code3, for example, had a half-day approach last year but found it needed to give employees “more leeway and flexibility to craft a schedule that worked for them,” said Amy Forrester, vp of People at Code3, as some employees were able to take full advantage of the time off on Fridays while others had work that would crop up during the time allotted.

“We have created something called DIY Long Weekend,” said Forrester. That plan allows employees to take five days off between Memorial Day and Labor Day on a Friday or a Monday. “We’re not prescriptive about when they use it but we are prescriptive about them planning to use it. Travel is opening up and we want employees to be able to enjoy some time this summer, enjoy their life again,” Forrester …read more

Source:: Digiday