By Alison Nelson, Account Manager
Everyone loves summer, but Alaskans REALLY love summer. And who can blame us? After a grueling winter the sunshine is a welcome reprieve to us all. However, employers in Alaska face a unique challenge every year when the snow melts – how to keep employees inside and working.
RISQ Consulting is no exception to this, and, after years of employees bombarding the leadership team with requests to close early whenever it was remotely sunny, a solution was formed. Every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, RISQ closes at noon. This allows employees to enjoy more of the all-too-short Alaskan summer and the accompanying sunshine!
Not only does this perk boost morale, but it also increases productivity due to something known as Parkinson’s Law.
Parkinson’s Law: ‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’
According to this article “Parkinson’s Law was introduced in 1955 by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of a tongue-in-cheek essay in the Economist and was based on his experiences with the very slow workings of the British Civil Service.
The main idea described by the law is that, if being given a week to complete a task then, psychologically, the task will expand to fill the time.”
In other words, when the workweek is shortened by half a day, we compensate by increasing productivity. Closing early on Fridays also makes sense from a strategic perspective. According to this article by Forbes, Fridays are the least productive day with employees only completing 16.7% of their tasks.
Aside from being a good strategic move, half-day Fridays give employees something to look forward to. The team here at RISQ Consulting is already counting down to half-day Fridays and the excitement is practically palpable. Closing early is a significant benefit and is great for employee retention.
Would you consider implementing this at your business?
