Employees who slack off on a Friday afternoon are costing UK businesses more than £50 million a year.
1. Business lunch was longer than expected
2. I have a meeting on the way home
3. Doctor's appointment
4. I can work from home as my computer is down
5. I am doing some work at the weekend so will get off early
6. Important family commitment
7. Dentist's appointment
8. Car is playing up and I need to get it to a garage
9. Can't get hold of any clients
10. Child is ill so need to get them from school
Personnel software company Employersafe claims that staff use the last day of the working week to bunk off work early, with long lunches, a meeting out of the office and a doctor’s appointment making it into the top three excuses for those who want to start their weekend a few hours earlier.
Research by the software company also found that the trend is adding to the UK’s £13 billion workplace absenteeism problem.
Pam Rogerson, head of personnel at Employersafe, said: "Many businesses pretty much grind to a halt due to workers suffering from the Friday Feeling. It is amazing how often these days you can send an email or make a phone call on a Friday and not get any response until Monday morning.
"Our evidence suggests that more and more workers are seeing Friday afternoon as an unofficial holiday. We have estimated that this is costing British business just over £50million a year which all goes to form part of the overall £13billion cost of workplace absenteeism."
The company is helping bosses counteract the Friday Feeling by developing a computer programme that tracks patterns in workers’ absence. If disciplinary action is needed, the software can also guide them through the legal process.
One Response
Doesn’t this need to be in context?
I wonder if the system above will also track whether people are working through their lunches, starting early and finishing late, checking emails over the weekend and on holiday from mobile devices?
I suspect that it doesn’t issue warnings that people have execeeded their hours and advice them that they shouldn’t come in for the rest of the week.
If the amount of unpaid overtime is taken into condsideration is the Friday feeling actually costing businesses any money at all?
Personally, I can’t see how the sofware helps build trust between company and employee.
What do others think?