Do you work on the weekend or enjoy a 48 hour escape from your job? According to a survey by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, about seven out of ten people work at least one weekend per month. The “On Weekend” survey also found that those who did work during their weekend worked for an average of nine hours.
For busy leaders, working on the weekends may always be part of the job. But there’s a big difference between sending out a quick email and spending an entire day on your job.
As we talked about in our article about Vacation Frustration, there’s a high price paid when people can’t to recharge during their time off. Some simple strategy can ensure people benefit from their vacations.
The same philosophy should apply to those who work on the weekend. When I talk to audiences about time management, everyone agrees they don’t like having their job invade their time off but are not sure how they can change the game. Consider these three simple tips to maximize performance, boost morale, and restore the weekends as a time for relaxation.
Create a Weekend Email Policy
At least once a year, there should be a discussion about email expectations for Saturday and Sunday. Are employees required to check and respond to their messages? For some, sending a message may not require a lot of time, while responding to it may take much longer.
Very often, this kind of policy is not defined and people assume they must be plugged into their job 24/7. Create an email policy and review it in six months. Make adjustment as needed and communicate the changes.
Monday Deadlines
Do people work on the weekend because they have projects due on Monday? While you can’t escape some Monday deadlines, is this a case of necessary information coming in late on Friday that’s needed for an early Monday report or presentation?
In this scenario, you can’t complete the work without working on Saturday or Sunday. If this is unavoidable, then expect employees to burnout and spouses and partners to shoot you dirty looks at company picnics.
Often, the deadline is not urgent and the due date could easily be moved to Tuesday.
Allocation of Work
Do people spend all of their time on tasks that time up time but don’t produce much return on investment? See if these duties still need to be performed or if they can be outsourced.
For instance, counting $250 in change takes time. It’s dull work that requires concentration but not expertise. Could the same work be performed by a coin counting machine in either a supermarket or a bank? While a percentage of the total may go to the machine, it frees up a lot of employee time.
By removing this task, you open time for more important work that can spill into the weekend.
