Monday, February 04, 2008

One more day


No it is not a countdown. Just something that a colleague came up with at work.

Her theory: The best way to increase the productivity at work is to make Wednesdays as part of the weekend (and therefore off). Instead, everyone must be made to work 2 more hours on the other weekdays.

Her logic: In general, nobody works on Mondays and Fridays. A little bit of work does get done on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but the most productive day of the day of the week is certainly the Thursday. And that is because there is just "one more day" before the weekend for people to unwind and relax. Also there is just "one more day" for them to finish their pending work for the week (unless they want to think about work during the weekend).

If Wednesdays were off, then:
i) Mondays and Thursdays are going to be very productive because there will be just "one more day" before the weekend.
ii) Tuesdays and Fridays will be more productive too (Because, as Syndrome clearly stated, "When everyone is super, no one will be". Add to it, the pressure to finish the pending work before the weekend, Voila! People will no longer have the "TGIF" eagerness as before, thereby making weekend's eves more productive.)

Her theory does seem quite compelling (especially since I "work" too). However, since I HAD to argue:

1. If you work 10 hours a day (instead of 8), then, if you take a day off (or if it is a holiday), you lose 2 more hours than in the current system (which needs to be made up for).

2. Assuming the same effect of "one more day" on both Mondays and Thursdays is not correct since we have only one day off after "one more day" after Monday (i.e., Wed), while we have two more days off after "one more day" after Thursday (i.e, Sat, Sun). Similarly, the effects on Tues and Fri need to be considered separately in more detail as well.

3. Going by the current definition of the week, Wednesday does not come at the end of week. So, we would have to either change the definition of the "week" or change that of the "weekend"
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