It’s not unusual to have such a busy week that you can’t take full advantage of your two days off because you’re so tired. For workers who don’t have a four-day week, and when it’s not always possible to take Fridays off, planning ahead for a “quiet weekend” could be a solution.
The idea is to organise your working week in such a way as to enjoy a calmer, quieter weekend, and make the most of your time off work.
The concept comes from career-trends expert Jill Cotton, who explains it involves working harder at the beginning of the week – when we’re rested – in order to have a lighter Friday workload.
“For those with a traditional Monday-to-Friday schedule, this often means clearing Fridays of long meetings, hard deadlines, highly collaborative activities, or tasks that can’t be completed in a day,” she said.
The expert also advises those who work from home to choose Fridays to start unwinding in the run-up to the weekend.
“Unlike quiet quitting, quiet weekends aren’t about scraping by and doing the bare minimum to avoid losing your job,” she added. “Quiet weekends are purposefully structured to maximise your productivity during the week, while putting yourself in a great position to enjoy the weekend.”
This method, when correctly implemented, promises to bring better balance between professional and personal life. It could help employees feel less exhausted at the end of the week, making them more able to take full advantage of their weekend, without the fear of seeing their two days off slip away at lightning speed.
In the long term, the concept of the quiet weekend could benefit employees’ mental health. This is because sometimes two days off are not enough to decompress and recover from the fatigue of a busy week.
“Quiet weekends can help employees sign off fully at the end of their working week – protecting their precious days off and allowing them to recharge and bring their best selves back to work after the weekend,” Cotton concluded.
It could also prevent some employees from experiencing burnout, from which one in four adults will suffer in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization.