Today (June 2) is Leave the Office Earlier Day – sometimes referred to as Leave the Office Early Day. Whatever you call it, make sure your boss is on board before you partake in this unofficial holiday for workaholics.
So what genius came up with Leave the Office Earlier Day? It was employee productivity expert Laura Stack, whose techniques for improving employee output, reducing inefficiency and saving time in the workplace have been adopted by Fortune 500 companies for nearly two decades. I’m certainly a new fan!
Stack designed Leave the Office Earlier Day not as a legitimate excuse for slackers to leave early one day a year. It’s quite the contrary. Leave the Office Earlier Day is meant to serve as an incentive to those employees who often work more than 40 hours each week. I’m looking at you workaholics.
Dating back to only 2004, Leave the Office Earlier Day is observed on June 2 each year, unless June 2 falls on the weekend. If it does, no need for FOMO. If June 2 falls on Saturday, you get to celebrate on Friday June 1, and if June 2 falls on Sunday, you can celebrate it on Monday June 3.
Of course, leaving work earlier is not as easy as just packing your bags and heading out the door at 4 p.m. or getting to work earlier or working through lunch to get your work done. Leave the Office Earlier Day is a time to draw attention to working smarter and more efficiently as opposed to working harder and longer.
Because I’m Happy
You don’t have to be an employee productivity expert to know that a happy workforce is a productive workforce. If you are a manager, surprise your department. If today isn’t doable, then try it on next year’s Leave the Office Earlier Day. Announce it beforehand and see if it pays off. Did employees become more efficient around Leave the Office Earlier Day? Did employees seem to be happier in their jobs after Leave the Office Earlier Day? If the answer is yes to either question, you can say Leave the Office Earlier Day was a success. It surely won’t hurt to try one day.
Mo’ Productive, Mo’ Profit
As an employee, one way to work more efficiently is to take a look at your daily duties. Sometimes you can get in a rut when performing routine tasks. Take time also on this day to see if there are ways to perform your duties just as effectively but in less time. The time-savings could add up fast.
One reason more companies should adopt Leave the Office Earlier Day is to focus attention on how greater productivity can lead to greater profitability. The quicker and more efficiently work gets done, the more productive an employee, a team, a department and a business become.
Of course, when you become more efficient, you run the risk of earning new tasks. But increasing your value as an employee is rarely harmful to your career goals, especially if you are able to keep from having to increase head count in your department or eliminate tasks that have no value to the company.
Preventing Burnout
Leave the Office Earlier Day is a time to bring attention to employees who typically work more than 40 hours. Without enough time to recharge their batteries away from the office, these employees are more prone to job burnout. Their burnout could undo all the extra hours they put in over the last few years and hurt your department’s efficiency, as well as your company’s profitability.
A Good Day at the Office
You’ve probably heard the saying “a bad day at the (pick your happy place, mine would be the beach) is better than a good day at the office.” It’s no surprise that most employees would rather be anywhere besides the workplace, doing anything besides work. If only for one day, Leave the Office Earlier Day gives you that benefit, or depending on the travel time to your happy place, the opportunity for that benefit.