An increasing number of people are being allowed to finish the working week early during the summer months. Does your boss trust you to spend an afternoon in the sun? Each year the number of companies which offer employees the choice of an early finish to the working week grows. Or, perhaps, each year,more people who work on ordinary Fridays hear about people playing on summer Fridays. When the sun is shining,it makes sense that you should be given Friday afternoons off,right? Sadly,not all managers agree with the policy. Companies that offer employees Friday afternoons off usually expect the hours to be made up. UK publishers Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House (PRH) are among those offering summer hours. At PRH, those who wish to take off Friday afternoons are expected to work an extra 45 minutes a day from Monday to Thursday. On Fridays, a rota ensures each team has been covered. "Most of us don't leave at exactly lpm,"Editor Anderson says. Depending on your workload,you might just leave an hour or so early,but it's still nice to do. " Simon Hayward, CEO of Cirrus, says that the "Summer Fridays" policy requires trust, and that managers need to be seen to take advantage of the offer too. "If a manager offers summer Fridays and then obviously expects employees to work on Friday afternoons, there is a risk associated with it that reduces the sense of well-being .I think there's a genuine fear in some organizations about flexible working hours. Do you trust your employees to do their best for the buti- ness as well as for themselves and their families,or do you fundamentally mistrust them?" Managers in the former camp tend to be comfortable              with              summer hours. Those in              the latter worry that summer Fridays will lead to late Mondays and long-lunch Tuesdays. What's the good policy for some employees in summer?
They don't work on Friday. They have flexible working hours on Friday. They can take Friday afternoons off. They might leave an hour early on Friday afternoon.