Why some US workers get ‘Summer Fridays’

For decades, some US firms give workers Friday afternoons off over the summer. But which workers have this luxury, and will it become more common?

During the sunny, long days of summer, many workers want to kick off the weekend as soon as possible. While most workers must answer emails and slog through Zoom calls until 5 p.m. at the end of the workweek, a small group has the freedom to get a head start on weekend plans. This is thanks to ‘Summer Fridays’, a benefit some US firms offer employees that allows them to leave early, or take the day off altogether, every Friday during the months of June, July and August.

It’s a great perk, says Vicki Salemi, knowledge advisor at job-search site Monster.com, who first experienced Summer Fridays when she took a job that offered the policy in New York City. “I remember it was glorious, because every Friday afternoon, I went to the Met museum.”

Beyond giving employees extra time off, Salemi explains the purpose of the benefit is to boost worker engagement and morale. It's also to take advantage of the summer lull many white-collar industries experience; staff and their clients often take holidays during those months, so there's less work to do. (Studies show that productivity in workplaces dips for these reasons in the summer.)

There isn't a lot of hard data on the history of Summer Fridays, but some origin stories suggest that they started in the 1960s in New York City; in true Mad Men fashion, advertising execs would leave early on Fridays to get a jump start on the drive out to the Hamptons, the rural, wealthy area to the east on Long Island. Early documentation of Summer Fridays appears in the New York Times in 1988, in an article spotlighting the perk in New York City publishing: "From management's side, summer hours are acceptable because they are of limited duration and – unlike a pay raise or enhanced medical coverage – they do not become a permanent part of the wage-benefits package."

Today, Summer Fridays are still heavily associated with New York City, and are common among the city's knowledge workers in sectors like finance, tech and media. But in recent years, Summer Fridays have spread beyond New York and become more common. Some data suggests around 10% of US companies offered the perk in 2015. In 2017, 42% of US Fortune 1000 companies surveyed by research firm CEB (now Gartner) had Summer Fridays.

For some, a luxury

But as many workers are well aware, Summer Fridays are a luxury not available to everyone; their provision largely depends on the industry.

"This is something that is not equally distributed among the workforce. It's definitely workers who are white collar, highly educated, knowledge workers [in sectors] where summer is slow to begin with," says Stephan Meier, professor of management at Columbia Business School in New York City.

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Many workplaces are just as busy on Fridays as any other day – like hospitals and hospitality – so taking time off isn't an option. Salemi also points to e-commerce, logistics and manufacturing as examples of sectors where Summer Fridays wouldn’t work as well, since those industries don't have lulls in the summer. Plus, some industries have a work peak in the summer: one of New York’s two fashion weeks takes place in late summer or early autumn, for example, so Big Apple fashion workers have to work more, not less.

Plus, Summer Fridays tend to benefit permanent staffers and exclude those employed on less beneficial conditions, like freelancers or contract employees. Salemi also points out that if freelancers' staffed bosses are off and these self-employed workers aren’t given assignments as a result, they might make less money – especially if they're paid hourly. "It can impact their workday and workflow and revenue and income," she says.

And even for those who do get to enjoy the policy, Summer Fridays won’t mean anything if bosses are setting a bad example by working, as is the case with any time-off perk. "In some cultures, in some companies, it may be personal pressure you put on yourself" to not take Summer Fridays, says Salemi. If a boss is tacitly pressuring their report to stay in the office, or to check messages when they’re supposed to be off, this mitigates the point of Summer Fridays entirely. So, not every worker who has the perk on the surface actually reaps the rewards.

A possible 'retention strategy'

Could Summer Fridays spread to become a more commonplace benefit?

Some experts say it’s possible, as workers’ desires and demands have changed – and grown louder – amid the pandemic. After all, the pandemic has shown that workers value flexibility above all else, and Summer Fridays certainly tap into this. Plus, they can help companies manage stress among their workforce.

"Although Summer Fridays are a pre-pandemic perk seen in some industries, it’s an easy way employers can address burnout, and help employees balance work after several years where work and life [were] blurred working from home," says career expert Allison Sullivan at careers site Glassdoor. Salemi agrees Summer Fridays are conducive to improving mental health and stymieing burnout.

Meier, meanwhile, calls Summer Fridays "a retention strategy": a perk some workers may value even more than money, especially if it's a relatively tiny raise. That could, he says, mean Summer Fridays might become more common. He says "more and more firms are figuring out what motivates people" in terms of perks and benefits – and it's not ping-pong tables or free bagels. He says Summer Fridays are "not something that every firm can pull off successfully, so the firms that actually do it will have a competitive advantage".

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What's more, in an era that's seen seismic changes to the workplace, Summer Fridays feed into a debate that's gathering pace in the wake of the pandemic: whether companies could introduce the four-day workweek.

“Summer Fridays could definitely be a great test drive” for shorter workweeks year-round, says Salemi – as long as workers aren’t cramming 50 hours of work into a Monday-to-Thursday schedule. Meier agrees: "I totally think that there is a way we can figure out how much we can actually do in four days," he says. "Let's give people more Fridays off: Fall Fridays, Spring Fridays."

For now, though, Summer Fridays remain a coveted treat that offers up precious time off for some lucky workers – and it's a perk almost all workers would certainly welcome. "Summer will not last forever. It will go by very fast," says Salemi. "So let's enjoy it."