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NextGen Magazine

 
 

Mandatory Mondays in the Office Face Some Resistance

By:
S.J. Steinhardt
Published Date:
Jun 27, 2023

GettyImages-171144946-Monday

As employers try to get workers to return to the office, some are trying to make that mandatory day Monday, and  not everyone is happy about it, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Some believe that having everyone in on the first day of the week is good for energy and productivity, but are encountering pushback. One is Jeff Hornstein, executive director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, who wanted regular goal-setting meetings and team-building on Mondays, “the best day for it,” he said. The staff grumbled, so a compromise was reached to meet in person every other Monday.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are better days for office attendance, the Journal reported. A survey of 4,500 companies’ return-to-office policies conducted by hybrid-workplace software company Scoop found that nearly 300 require employees to come in on specific days. Most require Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but that could change if economic conditions worsen, prompting job insecurity, Scoop co-founder Rob Sadow told the Journal.

“Employers may start to use that as an opportunity to be more strict on the number of days spent in the office,” he said. “If a company goes from three days a week minimum to four days, there’s a good chance that Mondays would be that increase day.”

Apartment developer and operator AvalonBay Communities requires its employees to show up to work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, as apartment showings and other activity that happen during the weekends, David Alagno, senior vice president of human resources, said.

“We need to be prepared to support our teams,” he told the Journal. “Monday is a big day.”

Others think that Monday should be a gentle start to the week, the Journal reported, citing a movement for “bare-minimum Mondays” that advocated doing the least amount of work required.

Just don’t ask employees to make that mandatory office day Friday.

“Trying to get employees in five days a week, including Fridays, is the fastest way” to upset people, Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom, who studies flexible work arrangements, told the Journal. “Fridays are the clear winner on WFH days.”