What is Weekly off?
Weekly off refers to a day or days when the employees are not expected to do office work. It is also known as the rest days or days of rest. Employees or other staffs get two types of days offs.
One is a consecutive day off where people can enjoy their free time for consecutive days and the second one is an alternate day off where people can enjoy free days or days in between particular weeks.
Commonly, a standard workweek consists of five working days followed by two consecutive days off. The most common arrangement is a Saturday-Sunday weekend, where employees have Saturday and Sunday off as their weekly offs. But due to the 24* 7 work trend, many employees get any one day or two days of a week instead of the weekends.
▸Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
1. What is the importance of having weekly offs?
Weekly offs play a crucial role in promoting physical and mental well-being, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, enhancing productivity, and fostering personal growth. They contribute to a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling life. In this section, we are discussing the top 5 benefits of week offs at the workplace.
➔ Low risk of burnout
Continuous work, monotonous work without any breaks leads to employee burnout. A Free day of the week provides some free time where the employees can focus on their hobbies or spend some family time.
Moreover, Weekly offs provide a change of routine, giving individuals the chance to engage in activities they enjoy, explore new interests, and break away from work-related stress.
Due to weekly offs, organizations can experience a good healthy work-life balance, It helps to enhance productivity and foster personal growth.
➔ Better work-life balance
Employees face challenges during the week due to hectic work schedules, achieving targets, etc.
They can enjoy a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling life and spend quality time with family and friends, pursue hobbies, engage in recreational activities, and take care of personal responsibilities. Weekly offs are mandatory for maintaining a proper work-life balance.
➔ Increased productivity
Contrary to popular belief, working excessively long hours without regular breaks can actually decrease productivity and efficiency. Continuous work can result in fatigue, diminished focus, and decreased creativity.
By taking regular weekly offs, individuals have the opportunity to recharge, which can boost productivity when they return to work.
➔ Lower staff turnover
Having a week off is essential for an employee. Weekly offs ensure personal development activities. They can use this time to pursue educational courses, learn new skills, read books, or engage in creative endeavors. These activities contribute increase employee retention and enhance professional advancement.
➔ Improved employee wellbeing
Employees get sick after continuous work without any breaks. They start to the disease like high pressure, fatigue, and various health issues. Often they become mentally ill due to office micromanagement and monotonous work culture.
Weekly off give them a minimum of 24 free hours that help to maintain physical and mental health by reducing stress, improving sleep patterns, and enabling individuals to engage in activities that promote well-being, such as exercise and self-care.
2. Leave Policy for the week-off
As per the Indian labour legislation, every employee is allowed to take a minimum 24-hour rest period once a week or the first day of every week, Sunday. The week off is also known as the paid downtime. If in case any organization opts out of the weekly off policies, they have to make up by providing an equivalent number of days off within the further two months.
Besides, the week off, employees do get various types of leaves, such as bereavement leave, medical leave or sick leave, paternity or maternity leave, compensatory work off days, and casual leaves. These are mentioned as earned leaves by Indian labour law.
