Good morning!
Not too long ago, the idea of “summer Fridays” at work—leaving a few hours before 5 p.m. to maximize your weekend—was a fairly mainstream idea.
Employees could reasonably expect that their company would allow them to head out around noon to meet up with friends, head to the beach, or generally get a jump start on their weekend.
But what was already a fading American workplace tradition fell off a cliff with the rise of hybrid and remote work. Around 55% of North American workers had summer Fridays in 2019, according to a report from Gartner, a tech research and consulting firm. As of 2023, that number stood at just 11% of employees.
“The increasing prevalence of hybrid work and the flexibility of work from home arrangements have led some companies to eliminate or scale back on summer Fridays,” Mae Mendoza, senior manager at Robert Walters, a recruitment company, tells my colleague Emma Burleigh. “They reason ‘We’re giving so much flexibility to our employees already.’”
The urge to drive more productivity from workers in the pursuit of higher profits may also be playing a part. Consulting company PwC has gradually cut back on their summer Fridays over the past few years. After introducing the benefit in 2021, they limited it to eight Fridays in 2023, and now staffers only get six Friday half days.
But the benefit is wildly popular among employees, and HR leaders should think seriously about the upsides of offering the perk. Amid a widespread burnout epidemic and disengagement crisis, slightly longer weekends might be just what the doctor ordered.
“Summer Fridays enhance employee retention and attraction, improve morale and engagement, and reduce burnout,” says Mendoza. “Apart from that, it’s a benefit for the company’s positive image that they have work-life balance.”
You can read more about the vanishing state of summer Fridays here.
Azure Gilman
azure.gilman@fortune.com
Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com
Today’s edition was curated by Emma Burleigh.
Around the Table
A round-up of the most important HR headlines.
Efforts to form the first Amazon union in England fell through as organizers lost by just 28 votes. Some workers say that the company has actively discouraged unionization. New York Times
Two Democratic members of Congress called on the secretary of labor for information about child labor violations in youth work programs subsidized by the government. The Guardian
Unionized Boeing employees in Washington state held a rally yesterday to vote on a strike mandate that would flex the power of its workforce amid future contract negotiations. AP
Watercooler
Everything you need to know from Fortune.
Pitchforks. After Dell decided to withhold promotions for remote staffers, workers shared their feelings and tanked the company’s employee engagement survey. —Chloe Berger
Luxury scrutiny. Italian authorities opened an investigation into luxury fashion brands Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani over allegations of “inadequate” staff wages and unsafe working conditions. —Alberto Brambilla, Bloomberg
Into the fray. In the wake of conservative criticism Deere & Co. said on X that it would be scrapping its DEI initiatives to focus solely on professional development programs and resource groups. —Simone Foxman, Michael Hirtzer, Bloomberg
