How productive are you on a Friday, really?

One of my all-time favourite quotes is from the legendary Cycling Team Manager David Brailsford. He says, “a 1% improvement in many areas will add up and have a profound impact.” This quote is relatively self-explanatory, and one that I’m sure many would agree with, without a shadow of doubt.

Why Friday is currently the most unproductive day of the week

One such improvement that I think could have a potentially sweeping impact comes in the form of avoiding a harmful mindset employed, knowingly or unknowingly, by many employees. This mindset has a significant negative effect on both their productivity and ultimately their effectiveness. And it sets in on the last day of the working week: Friday.

For some reason, as soon as that 5th day begins, the pace of the working week begins to tail off. Minds drift off to the weekend as employees wish they were anywhere except their workplace. Productivity nosedives, but that’s alright, because ‘thank god it’s Friday’. And the stats speak for themselves on this – a study by Redbooth found that the highest percentage of tasks are completed on a Monday (20.4%), compared to Friday, when only 16.7% of tasks are accomplished.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that there are 52 Fridays in a year – that’s 20% of the working week. In my mind, drifting off on a Friday at work is like a marathon runner walking the final five miles, or a tennis player serving underhand in a tiebreaker. Loosing focus to this extent doesn’t happen in sport, so why does it happen within organisations?

How to make Friday the most productive day of the week

To myself and our team at 7billionideas, instead of being a day of dreaming and waiting, the 5th day of the working week is an opportunity to gain an edge. We use it as an opportunity to think smartly. While others are impatiently waiting until they are released for the weekend, we are capitalising on every minute.

Now some people might read this and think that I am a hard taskmaster, bleeding every ounce of output from my team. However, our policy is one of empowerment and self-determination – every employee dictates the terms of their working week and can work whenever they like.

Because of this, our productivity is higher than our competitors and industry. Productivity is defined as output per unit input, or, put simply, the amount of work done in a certain amount of time. Because of our team’s ability to define their own hours, they are never time-wasting or staring at the ticking hand of the clock.

Is flexibility the key to more productive Friday’s?

To me, an organisation is defined by the culture and mindset it generates and sustains. After weeks and months at an organisation, employees begin to reflect on the environment that they are in on a daily basis. They make what I like to call ‘reflective decisions’ on when it is time to work hard, when it is time to coast, and when it is time to take a break. Therefore, encouraging employees to act on these decisions is essential in the vital effort to maximise both productivity and happiness.

While others are counting down the minutes to 5pm on a Friday, 7billionideas’ employees are either enjoying time with their friends and family at home or working hard. I state this simply to my team, ‘when you are working you are working, when you are relaxing you are relaxing’. Separation between the two is the key to efficiency and a great work-life balance. And we aren’t the only business which believes that more flexibility equals more productivity – a New Zealand firm who trialled a four-day working week, found that staff were happier and 20% more productive.

Campbell Soup Company’s CEO Denise Morrison stated that “innovation requires an experimental mindset”. As managers and leaders, it is our job to cultivate this mindset by giving our employees the power of flexibility. This is the only way to avoid the fatal 5th day fade, lead an empowered workforce, and get ahead of your competitors.

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Author

David Harkin

CEO, 7billionideas Group

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David is an entrepreneur, a proud TEDx speaker and author who dedicates his life to connecting people with their own ideas. He does this via his ideas company 7billionideas, which was founded in 2012. The 7billGROUP operates in both the education and corporate sectors. Their education business exists to create memorable moments in and outside of the classroom that lasts a lifetime. Their corporate arm exists to help businesses become relentless when it comes to innovation. Recently, he was a finalist at the UK Business Awards 2018 in the category of ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’.

David made the leap from the corporate world to become an entrepreneur after spending the best part of a decade working for the technology giant IBM. At the age of 24, he was responsible for a multi-million dollar business and at 26 became the youngest Band 9 in the world, which was recognition of his contribution and potential on an international level. He decided that he needed to go and live and breathe his passion of connecting people with their own ideas.

David is proudly the Entrepreneur in Residence at Surbiton High School in London and Arcadia Preparatory School in Dubai. He is also the Director of Entrepreneurship at Harrow Hong Kong and British School of Jakarta. He is also a Non-Executive Director to a number of start-up business, supporting entrepreneurs whenever he can.

In his spare time, he works for the charity ‘Action for Children’s an independent visitor, which is someone who supports children and young people with their parents or families. He is also an active member of a Premier league cricket club and a playing member of the MCC.