Are Weekends Necessary?

Not only are you right about the communal aspect, but I've found that, when you agree to odd-shift hours, you tend to find that you're indispensible for emergencies that crop up on your days off. There's a reason we all work (generally) the same hours: we work together. You cannot get anything done in corporate America without a consensus, and getting a consensus when you're in the office alone is not a good thing.

A few other reasons this is an incredibly bad idea:

Resources: most office buildings go without heat/AC, lighting, water, garbage collection, etc. on weekends. These costs are generally a per-day thing, not a per-employee thing (unless you mandate an entire floor take off on the same day). Adding two more days to the facilities budget would increase costs by, roughly, 40%. And that's only if you limit the building to being open 9-5 on Saturday and Sunday.

Families: Would we extend this "flexible workweek" to schools? If not, how many parents do you think will choose to take a day off when their kids are in school?

Renovations/Maintenance: Similar to resources, when would you have the office repaired? When would you have the cleaning staff vacuum the floors and clean the bathrooms and empty the trash? These things get in the way during the day, which is why they are universally done during off hours.

Dan of NY 5:46PM July 14, 2008