Summertime and the living’s easyyyyyyy. We sing about it, save our PTO days for it, and long for it all year. But summer holds another distinction for many in the agency biz: Summer Fridays. It’s when we commit to signing off early on Friday afternoons (or at least try)—giving everyone a shortcut to warmer weekends. Usually starting the first Friday after Memorial Day and ending the Friday before Labor Day, this magical time allows us all to enjoy a little more work-life balance.
But before you judge us, hear us out. It’s actually good for business.
It’s a lemons-into-lemonade strategy
Everyone knows that booking a late-afternoon kick-off meeting on a Friday any time of year is a murderable offense. Why? Because of the nature of our business we’ve probably already worked a full week (and then some) by then. Our hard-working clients are pretty tired, too. For advertising and marketing people, Friday afternoons tend to be less productive than the rest of the week—especially in the summer when so many clients are on PTO—so why not turn a slow spell into a long weekend perk?
It keeps us motivated and organized
Just knowing that it’s a short week tends to kick us in the pants to get more done. We all know that sh*t could hit the fan any moment—imperiling our end-of-the-week break. So, we all plan accordingly to maximize our chances of taking that Summer Friday. Connect and align as a team Monday morning. Schedule that kick-off and brainstorming session as early in the week as possible. Make sure all client presentations are booked before 1:00 on Friday, with feedback due the following week. We all work together to make sure we’re set up for success to the best of our ability.
It’s great for morale and mental health
Let’s face it: Agency life is nuts. (Lucky for us, we’re kind of nuts, too, so it all works out.) We all typically work a lot—a labor of love—to make our clients happy. Keeping our team happy is also an important goal. We all have our own ways of battling burnout when we’re under pressure—from playlists and pet walks to happy hours and stretch breaks—but as an agency this is something we can give to each other, showing we really care.
It’s a sign that we have amazing clients
We’ll admit that we were a little nervous when we first broached the subject with our clients. And of course we made sure they understood that we would be available to meet any and all deadlines they might require over the summer. But we were really bowled over to discover that several of them were already planning their own Summer Fridays at work! Knowing that they were so supportive of our culture made us love them all even more. (Thanks, you guys. You complete us.)
