@atlkate I totally get what you are saying! I got offered a job where they had the same deal - longer hours Mon-Thurs, then 8am-12pm Friday. I would have used those Friday afternoons for working out, shopping, pedicures, and me time! I turned down the job because the Mon-Thurs hours were 7am-5pm, which would have been hard to get my children to/from daycare and school with those hours.
I'm sad for you that you're unable to take advantage of this amazing perk
@atlkate Right here with you, except at my company it’s alllll the time like after 5 and weekends. My boss is like “don’t work on the weekends” but then they work and other people on my team work extra hours alllll the time (we’re all salary, so extra hours does not mean extra pay). So it’s just kinda become a thing that everyone works extra. We’re expected to get our projects done and I don’t mind occasionally putting in extra time but recently it’s gotten out of hand.
@atlkate Could you possibly switch your summer Friday to summer Thursday? and have off thurs afternoons? That is so annoying that you’re basically just working extra hours now. Would it be possible to block off your calendar and have it automatically decline all events? Or put in “medical appointments that you can’t miss” on your cal? You could make the excuse that since friday afternoons you’re off, that’s when you’re scheduling all your essential appointments
@atlkate My coworker will constantly tote the fact that they work 60-70 hour work weeks and while what they do IS important, I’m getting my crap done in 45-50 and going HOME. I have a 2 year old that needs me, and now I’m newly pregnant and need all the extra rest I can get. I’m not going to work 60 hour weeks like a crazy person if I don’t have to. They don’t have kids, and have an extreme type A-ness. I’m type A too, but sometimes we have to accept good-enough as a pass when the workload is too high to get perfect.
@atlkate Honestly, that SUCKS. We have summer Fridays too and it’s respected like 75%, so I’m pretty lucky. And I always think I’m going to use it for something cool but then I take a nap. Which is a fantastic use of time too, of course
@atlkate It's not a flex but some leadership believe that because they are expected to always be working, that their team should as well. They forget that they get major compensation for their efforts and the ~minions~ do not. Definitely take your daily hour back if they continue to disregard the change in schedule.
We've an impending permanent 9/80 (9 hour days m-th, 8 hours Friday 1, off Friday 2) and
1) i have no idea how the hell i'm going to get an extra hour in each day and
2) I can see our leadership disregarding the day off. -_-
"Will you have your kid home on the Friday?" UH NO, for the most part. I will be cleaning and grocery shopping and exercising and doing the things I can't do with her around.
@atlkate Overworking is a flex for people bragging how bad they are about time management, organizing their work, and prioritizing the most important things vs doing unimportant busywork
Can you bloke your afternoon in your calendar? I've started blocking my lunch break as if it was a meeting so that people didn't book meetings at that time.
Are you in the office or WFH? If WFH and you don't feel comfortable blocking the whole afternoon at least pretend you have a 90min meeting and use that time as you wish.
@atlkate Oh another thought, outside of blocking the time as OOO and just saying you already scheduled a personal appointment, is there anyone else that's a peer that is also frustrated by this? You can tag team the inevitable meeting where you alternate joining and then if anyone speaks up about the other ones absence, they can say "oh I think they had an appointment scheduled, since we were supposed to be off." Do that a few times and hopefully other people will also feel free to just .. not go.
@atlkate I don’t get it either, and no matter what you do people feel entitled to the time on your calendar. I throw serious side eye at people who schedule Friday meetings (we have a 9/80 at my company) or anything before 8:30 or after 4.
@atlkate Honestly seems like the perk is listed in name only. If it was a real perk, it’d be protocol from the top to not schedule on Friday afternoons at all.
I’ve had jobs that list all of those perks but some weren’t taken advantage of so if you did use it, you looked lazy or not like a team player. Bait and switch. There to say you have it but they guilt you to use it.
Not a flex to be overworked especially when you’re intentionally assigned the work on 2-4 people with the deadlines of 1 person.
I’ve seen people give their all and if/when they’re let go, they lose their identity bc they put it all into their jobs. Not me. Companies will squeeze you then throw you to the raise without a care.
@atlkate Totally with you. I love my job but it’s a paycheck and that’s it. I only work part time and on my new phone I ‘accidentally’ wasn’t able to put my work email on there! Oops! I’ve heard my management talk about how amazing people are for replying to emails during their evenings after work. So dumb. They can all have fun with their work centered lives and I’m going to keep having fun on my days off with my child, husband, and hobbies!
@jeanettelindsay If I ever do work outside of hours (which I only do when making up time for sick kiddo) I delay deliver all my messages to 9am the next day
@atlkate Friday afternoon meeting are the worst. My team recently switched to having Friday as one of the two “in office” days where the idea is for people to be in the office and utilize the in office time for meetings and adhoc discussions etc. Friday has its benefit because not many other teams do Fridays and it is a lot less crowded in the office. But on the other hand, I realized I just don’t do well brainstorming and trying to figure out hard problems on Friday afternoons lol. My brain is done after a long week.
Magically though, I’ve been telling that to people and recently we’ve been having fewer afternoon meetings. Not sure if I can take credit for it but maybe other people feel the same way - Friday afternoon meetings are just not that productive since people are more or less exhausted at that time of the week. So that could be another angle too - “hey how about we schedule this meeting next week when we are all well rested and can be more productive?”
and have off thurs afternoons? That is so annoying that you’re basically just working extra hours now. Would it be possible to block off your calendar and have it automatically decline all events? Or put in “medical appointments that you can’t miss” on your cal? You could make the excuse that since friday afternoons you’re off, that’s when you’re scheduling all your essential appointments 
