Fish has implemented a new policy that every employee is cheering for: Year-round Summer Fridays. What used to be a strictly summer policy has been applied to every Friday, all year! Which is fantastic, considering Florida feels like summer for 90% of the year anyways.
What Are Summer Fridays – you may ask? Summer Fridays are a type of flexible scheduling that allows employees to either leave the office early on Friday or take the entire day off. These summer hours are typically offered on the Fridays that fall between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Most employers are often hesitant to implementing this practice, but there are benefits to offering this policy to your employees. Brian Kropp, group vice president of the HR practice at Gartner, found that, ” … offering your employees work-life balance can increase productivity, loyalty and employee retention.” They might seem unconventional, but Summer Fridays can be a major perk for your employees.
The best part is – there’s not one type of Summer Friday – select a strategy that works for you and your company! Here’s five options that OwlLabs recommends.
- Work Extra Hours in Return for Time Off on Friday
With this type of Summer Friday, employees work additional hours throughout the week. They keep track of how many extra hours they work, and then they can take that same amount of time off on Fridays.
- Every Friday Off
This is one of the more generous versions of Summer Fridays. All employees have every Friday off during the Summer. This gives them a full day to take care of any errands and appointments or to kickstart a long weekend.
- Every Other Friday Off
Instead of giving every employee the same Fridays off, stagger the Fridays that people take off. For example, half of the company would take the first Summer Friday off, the second half would take the following Friday off, and so on.
- Half-Day Fridays
If your company can’t lose a full day of productivity each Friday, consider offering half days. Workers will work for the first half of the day and then leave the office around lunchtime.
- Flexible Summer Hours
Instead of restricting employees to taking time off on Friday, allow them to apply their Summer hours to different days throughout the week.
Summer Fridays give employees flexibility and allow them to make the most of the summer months. They can take time to rest and relax before the last quarter of the year.
