By the time Friday rolls around, it’s probably safe to say that most of us aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders.

Whether it’s the siren call of the impending weekend that’s just a few hours – and a few emails – away or the inevitable slump that comes after four days of focusing (or doing our utmost to do so), Fridays at work can feel a little disjointed at best, and full of distractions at worst. No wonder a 2019 survey of HR managers concluded that employees are at their least productive on day five, with just 10% of respondents naming Friday as their most efficient time.

But what if there was a way to turn this around in order to get the most out of your time and ensure that Mondays don’t hit quite so hard? One potential solution comes in the form of ‘Focus Fridays’, an approach to the working week that has previously been pioneered by tech companies including Google and Slack.

The concept itself is pretty self-explanatory. Focus Fridays are all about blocking out some time at the end of the week where you can properly tackle the tasks you’ve been putting off, whether that’s an in-depth report you keep procrastinating over, some research that requires your full attention or just sending out some important emails – without any distractions. 

For many of us, the main source of those distractions is meetings, which seem to have stepped up a gear since the pandemic, a phenomenon known as ’meeting inflation’: one 2022 study found a 60% increase in remote meetings per employee compared to 2020, with the average number of weekly meetings jumping from five to eight. And for that reason, Focus Friday means implementing a ban on any phone calls, Zoom meetings and those ’Can I just grab you for a quick chat?’ interactions that aren’t absolutely vital so that you can crack on without distractions. The emphasis of Focus Friday is on ’deep’ work, concentrating on a difficult task for an extended period of time without flitting from one thing to another.

“Meetings, love them or hate them, have always been a part of everyday working life,” says Ray’n Terry, human resources director at Totaljobs. “But it can be easy for them to overtake your working week and distract you from doing more productive work. Meeting-free time enables you to fully focus on tasks without constant interruptions.”

This protected time, she adds, helps to create “strong work boundaries” that might just “foster a better work-life balance” in the process. From how to get your manager on board to the best way to manage your meeting-free time, here’s what you need to know before trying Focus Fridays for yourself… 

Be realistic…

“It might not be achievable to block out an entire day – it will depend on the nature of the business you work in,” Terry says. “When making your case for protected time, take into consideration any business needs and factor that in.”

… but don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo

There will doubtless be some recurring meetings in your calendar that take place, well… just because they always have done. “Consider what meetings are necessary and which ones just take place out of habit,” Terry says. “Encourage your teams to do the same.”

Make sure everyone knows your plans beforehand

“Communicate with your colleagues in advance that you intend to have a meeting-free day to allow for focus and encourage them to book any new meetings on other days if possible,” recommends Jenny Wells, head of HR at High Speed Training. In fact, this initiative arguably works best when it is team-wide, she adds. Then everyone knows that “they can plan any tasks into that time without the fear of a meeting being booked in”. 

Don’t kid yourself that you’ll get everything done

The key to nailing Focus Fridays is being pragmatic about what you’ll be able to achieve. “Set realistic expectations about how long tasks will take you, as people often underestimate how long it will take them to complete something,” says Joshua Zerkel, a certified professional organiser and head of global engagement marketing at Asana. “Once you’ve established this, block time out in your calendar for each individual task.”

Give yourself breaks

“Deep work does not mean sitting in front of a task for hours on end and hoping to keep the same level of productivity and enthusiasm,” Zerkel notes. “Take a quick break and go for a walk or check the news and you will find that you’ll come back to your desk feeling more focused.” 

Embrace mono-tasking

Mono-tasking is all about putting your full attention on one task to completion, rather than trying to do lots of things at the same time, advises Emily Austen, founder of PR agency Emerge and host of The Busi-Ness Podcast. “Close your email so you aren’t getting distracting notifications and log out of Slack to focus entirely on the precise task at hand,” she adds.

It doesn’t have to be a Friday

This might sound counterintuitive, but your Focus Friday doesn’t have to take place on Friday. Perhaps you already work a four-day week or you can already concentrate pretty well on Fridays, thanks very much (in which case, please do share your secrets). Or maybe you’ve got a long-standing commitment that can’t be shifted around.

Whatever the reason, you can still apply the same techniques to a different day: perhaps you find Wednesday, aka hump day, a real slog to get through, for example. Terry says that some of her colleagues “have 10am-3pm on Wednesdays blocked, others [have] Monday mornings and Friday afternoons”. The result, she adds, is “higher quality work and greater efficiency”, plus a reduction in overall meetings means that when one is scheduled it is “genuinely necessary and productive”. 

Image: Getty