Empty offices on Mondays and Fridays pose problems

Business

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Since this column always appears at the beginning of the week, it was worrying to come across one academic study the other day, suggesting workers are the toughest on Mondays.

To be more precise, the European authors of the paper found that people are, on average, more rude on Mondays and become more civil as the week goes on, but only if they are unaware of nature or do not concentrate on the present.

I’m no expert on full attention, but I’m pretty sure that means a sizable chunk of the workforce will be avoided on the first day of the work week.

This may not look terribly new. We all know what Mondayitis is like. The Oxford English Dictionary even has one definition for this: “Reluctance to attend school or work, or a reduction in work efficiency, experienced on a Monday morning.”

The new thing is that in many parts of the world, the problem has been fading as a result of the pandemic.

It turns out that from the city of London to Sydney, if people can choose which days they work at home and which in the office, a large number will stay home on Mondays. And also on Fridays.

This is already happening in places where Covid is largely content and hybrid work is spreading, which means people spend a few days in the office and others at home.

A recent one poll in Australia, almost virus-free, Mondays and Fridays are the least popular days to head to the office, while Thursdays are the most favored. A scientific study of friends whose offices are reopening in London suggests that the same pattern emerges here.

I suspect it’s best to enjoy it while it lasts, because a lot of people want it to end. For starters, many bosses think that staying home on Mondays and Fridays is like relaxing.

The evidence for this is unclear. Workers were less productive on Mondays and Fridays last year, according to one data evaluation of nearly 7,000 employees at Prodoscore, a group that uses artificial intelligence to measure people’s productivity. But the group says the numbers were pretty much the same in 2019, before the pandemic hit.

Still, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon he said last year the trend of free days on Mondays and Fridays was one of the reasons I was so eager to have staff back in the office.

Others have different concerns. Offices were already more empty at the start and end of the week before the pandemic, according to management consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates.

But Covid is expected to pick up the trend, the group said a recent report, warning administrators should be careful to avoid crowded offices with so much empty space that they feel “powerless, dead, and no noise.”

To attract staff on Mondays and Fridays, the consultancy suggests companies offer incentives “such as deploying famous chefs to attract staff to attend.”

This is an idea I could leave behind. Unfortunately, I suspect more managers will prefer the less glamorous ideas of the consultancy, such as agreeing on basic days and breaks to flatten the demand for office space.

Meanwhile, in Australia, the spread of hybrid work is provoking fears about the future of urban centers.

“It’s not practical for the office to be able to get up on Thursdays and be dead on Mondays and Fridays,” he said. a March report by the Property Council of Australia and EY.

He warned that the trend would affect traffic flows and the use of the building, not to mention traders and cafes during the week. To counter the change, the study urges cities to turn their core business districts into “central experience districts,” where attractions such as food markets, outdoor pools and live music attract people from their homes.

Meanwhile, at least one owner of a group of bars and cafes in Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, has suggested it wouldn’t be bad if human resources departments only banned people from working from home on Mondays and Fridays.

When the tendency to stay at home in those days, Giuseppe Petroccitto, began to emerge he said to the The Australian Financial Review said this business from Tuesday to Thursday was “amazing” and gave him hope. “But on Monday and Friday you just think, ‘Wow.’

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