As the weekend approaches, employees get into gear to
embrace the break from the rut of the working week. As Saturday approaches, the
question begins to creep in, ‘why not call in sick’, or ‘I have a day off, why
not use it’. Sometimes the lethargy, or just the need to plainly break free,
extends to the day after a Sunday as well. ‘We can extend it to another day,
can’t we’ is another manner in which the weekend extends itself to Monday. And
thus arises the concept of the Long Weekend Syndrome, the bane of employers who
suddenly find themselves short-staffed.
When asked what causes employees to take these long sojourns, Rachel Antao a teacher and working mother, replied, “The workplace is usually running at a breakneck pace of business all week long. My plans often revolve around doing a little bit of nothing. People enjoy being able to have a period of time, even if it’s just a day, to be unscheduled. During the hectic week, it’s difficult to be able to give attention to the ones that you care about. A long weekend affords you this critical quality time.Then there are charities. It is worth giving time to worthy charitable organisations, but in order to do so, one must find the time for it.”
Probed as to what the psyche of someone preparing for the long weekend was, Rosswyn Fernandes, a young sales executive from Vasco, said, “I prepare for all situations before I leave for a long weekend, purely so that I am in a position to be psychologically free to relax and enjoy it. I find that this helps, because I then can create a clear plan of action for when I return,which enables me to hit the ground running. I work out a mental chart of my activities for the weekend well in advance so that I’m not drawn into the temptation of working on my time off.
In an interesting twist to the tale, people responsible for human resource management in enterprises with shorter weeks, have a slightly different point of view with regard to employees availing of days off. “I find that when people have the additional day off, they use the extra time off with their families and friends, keep up with pending appointments and take long weekends. However, I have also found that they also complete other tasks that they might otherwise have taken an afternoon off to tend to. It is my observation that people subconsciously wind up taking a smaller number of days off and sick days disappear almost entirely with a shorter working week,” says Deepa Uchil, a BPO Human Resources Manager.
One way or the other, the long weekend is something that is embraced by people across the board, whether employees or (in hushed whispers) their employers and is not a ‘problem’ that looks to have a solution anytime soon.