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With this column always appearing at the beginning of the week, it was disturbing to come across an academic study the other day which indicated that Mondays are the rudest workers on Mondays.

More specifically, the newspaper’s European authors found that on average, people are rudest on Mondays and become more polite as the week progresses, but only when they are not naturally alert or focused on the present.

I’m not an expert on mindfulness, but I’m pretty sure that it means a sizable section of the working population is best avoided on the first day of the work week.

That may not sound very new. We all know what it’s like to feel Mondayitis. The Oxford English Dictionary even has a definition for it: “reluctance to attend school or work, or a decrease in work efficiency that occurs on a Monday morning.”

What is new is that in many parts of the world the problem has faded as a result of the pandemic.

First of all, many bosses think staying home on Mondays and Fridays means slacking off

It turns out that from the City of London to Sydney, if people have a choice of which days to work at home and which days they are in the office, a large number of them stay home on Mondays. And also on Fridays.

This is already happening in places where Covid is largely contained and hybrid working is spreading, meaning people spend a few days in the office and others at home.

A recent poll in near-virus-free Australia found that Monday and Friday are the least popular days to visit the office, while Thursdays are the most popular. Unscientific study of friends who are reopening offices in London suggests the same pattern is emerging here.

I suspect it’s best to enjoy this while it lasts because a lot of people want it to end. First of all, many bosses think staying home on Mondays and Fridays means slacking off.

The evidence for this is not clear. According to an assessment of data on nearly 7,000 employees by Prodoscore, a group that uses artificial intelligence to measure people’s productivity, workers were less productive on Mondays and Fridays last year. But the group says the 2019 numbers were pretty much the same before the pandemic.

Even so, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the Monday and Friday day off trend last year was one reason he was interested in having employees back in the office.

In Australia, the proliferation of hybrid labor is creating fears for the future of city centers. File photo: iStock

Others have other concerns. According to management consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates, offices were emptier at the beginning and end of the week before the pandemic.

It’s not practical when the office is full on Thursdays and dead on Mondays and Fridays

But Covid will only fuel the trend, the group said in a recent report, warning managers to be careful to avoid offices with so much empty space that they feel “dead, dead, and without buzz.”

In order to attract employees on Mondays and Fridays, the consulting firm suggests that companies offer incentives, “such as celebrity chefs who are used to win employees over to participate”.

This is an idea that I could get over with. Unfortunately, I suspect that more managers will prefer the consulting firm’s less glamorous ideas, such as: B. the agreement of core days and rotas to reduce the demand for office space.

City centers

In Australia, the proliferation of hybrid labor is creating fears for the future of city centers.

“It’s not practical to have the office dead on Thursdays and Mondays and Fridays,” said a March report from the Property Council of Australia and EY.

It warned that the trend would affect traffic flows and building use, not to mention retailers and cafes on weekdays.

To counteract the shift, the study urges cities to turn their central business districts into “central experience districts” where attractions like grocery markets, outdoor pools and live music draw people out of their homes.

Meanwhile, at least one bar and cafe group owner from the Queensland capital, Brisbane, has suggested that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if HR departments only banned people from working at home on Mondays and Fridays.

As the trend of staying home those days began to emerge, Giuseppe Petroccitto told the Australian Financial Review that Tuesday through Thursday business was “amazing” and gave him hope. “But Monday and Friday you just think, ‘wow’.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2021