What Needs to Happen in the Workplace on Wednesdays
Remember the days we were forced into extra-curricular activities? Now in adulthood, our schedules force us not to participate in any that we’ve grown to love.
The weekend rolls around and I find myself in bed praying, “please, please, please, no one ask me to be part of any plans.”
As a natural introvert-in-disguise who indulges in creative pursuits and also balances a now full-time job, I need the weekend to be alone in my sanctuary (room) and recover. Now that I work more hours, I have to be “on” for longer. Being "on" is not to be confused with “fake” but you do have to exemplify a certain level of “workforce-pleasant", with this “workforce-pleasant” being a round-the-clock endeavor.
As the experience-economy generation begins to assume the majority of the American workforce, we're seeing a restructuring of priorities to make way for more work-life balance. This should also reflect in the structure of our work week.
Don’t see it as laziness, see it as a way of strategizing and elevating productivity.
Early dismissal public elementary school
Remember that? Teachers have a meeting on Wednesdays so students are excused at 1:30 pm rather than the usual 2:15 pm. It breaks up the monotony of the week and perfectly divides the week into two crucial halves - assessing and planning. Asking, "what went well so far this week" and "what's our goals for the remainder of the week?"
Then, an important lesson from French class junior year of highschool
Madame Jude said French students take a partial day off on Wednesdays to dedicate the day to extra-curriculars. I was impressed not only because it provides that work-week variance, but because it was the first time it occurred to me that other countries around the world can still succeed without conforming to our “work-until-the-wheels-fall-off" American standard (expectation).
What I fill my Wednesdays with - Dancehall class! It’s a non-negotiable even if I barely have time to do it.
Read about the 4-day work week HERE
Read about Key Contrasts in French and American employment laws HERE
Read about The Productivity of the French workforce HERE and HERE
When we have time to indulge our own passions, our own hobbies, we can pour that energy back into the workplace.
Side note: Hobbies were fostered and encouraged in childhood. Now in adulthood, they're seen as frivolous, with no transitional period for it going from a good to burdensome thing.
Don't get me wrong, our American work ethic did honorably build our roadways, innovate our science and technology, transform our communication systems. It directly supports the promise of the American Dream that through hard work, anything is achievable.
More personal time means more time you could be spending with friends and fostering the relationships that invigorate us.
This isn’t an argument to discount any of that. But, just as the pendulumn swings in one direction, it self-corrects, and ladies and gentlemen: we are in a self-correcting era. The pursuit of the American Dream shouldn't end in a story of a rise to the top, only to be met by an early grave marked by money in the bank, fancy car in the garage, but no memory of actually enjoying any of it.
Giving your employees 4 hours of personal time is not losing much when you think about the 4 hours they probably waste at work browsing Amazon Prime flash deals or tending to their fantasy football league.
I’m proposing we do it like the French or how we did it as kids. Make “hump-day” into “avoid-slump-day" by granting half-days on Wednesdays.
The tireless American work ethic is admirable, but at what point are we shooting ourselves in the foot? Our blood thirst for the Almighty Dollar shouldn't bleed over into harming the quality of our lives and the moments that will actually fulfill us and define us.
Ultimately, Wednesdays should be half-days and we shouldn’t feel bad about it.