At half past three every Friday afternoon at Zehnder Communications, the words of Homer Simpson ring out over the PA system: "I would kill everyone in the room for a drop of sweet beer." Then the beer gets cracked open (with soft drinks for abstemious types).

For the past 12 years, staff at the New Orleans advertising agency have enjoyed "Free Beer Fridays".

"We wanted to do something regularly that would make this a great place to work," explains Jeff Zehnder, chief executive. "It's a cool-down period, a chance to get to know each other and talk over the week."

At the Montreal offices of design software business Autodesk, there's a similar policy: Friday afternoons are all about beer and crisps. "You can stop work at 4pm," the company says, to sample "different kinds of speciality locally brewed beers, wines and a variety of potato chips. We do sometimes watch clients' films, but mainly it's just a good chance to unwind, relax and catch up with each other. It's very well appreciated."

Others go further. "Summer hours" are a long-established institution in the US. Typically, from May to October, staff are allowed to arrive at work earlier in the mornings and then leave at lunchtime on Fridays. According to HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates, 10-12 per cent of large American employers offer staff this option. In the UK, PepsiCo offers it to staff at its Reading headquarters.

Although allowing an early end to the week may seem altruistic, there are good reasons why this might be the best use of a Friday afternoon. The thing is, even if employers do not give staff a winding down period, they are likely to be doing it anyway. Research by UK-based Employment Law Advisory Services suggests that British businesses are losing £50m a year from employees skipping off on Friday afternoons. The research found that bogus meetings, over-running lunches and doctor's appointments were the top three excuses. And these findings are bolstered by research from the Automobile Association, the motor breakdown service, which suggests that the Friday afternoon rush hour in fact starts at noon.

"It's an endemic global phenomenon," says Peter Mooney, ELAS head of consultancy. "It's amazing how often you can send an e-mail or make a phone call and not get any response until Monday morning. More and more workers are seeing Friday afternoon as an unofficial holiday."

Sebastian Bailey, a director at the Mind Gym learning and development consultancy, says that, in many companies, even if staff are present their minds may be elsewhere. "Staff tend to wind down on Fridays if there aren't pressing deadlines . . . People take their foot off the gas. Cyber-slacking with sites like Facebook is particularly prevalent." Indeed, so well known is this phenomenon that it is enshrined in the language: "A Friday afternoon car" refers to a sub-standard vehicle, presumed to have been built after lunch on a Friday; and Friday is also sometimes known as "Poets" day (piss off early, tomorrow's Saturday).

So, the thinking goes, as a business you may as well get the credit for something that your staff are probably going to do anyway. And besides, those who provide relaxed get-togethers give their staff an opportunity to bond, get to know people they don't work with in their immediate environment and talk over the week's issues. Perhaps companies that let staff wind down on a Friday afternoon will be more productive than those that keep them working up to the final bell.

"By letting people go a little earlier or have beer and pizza on Friday afternoons, you create goodwill, engagement and loyalty," says Mr Bailey, adding that the payback often comes in the form of greater effort at other times.

Mr Zehnder puts it slightly more pithily: "If you work here, you bust your ass all week. By Friday afternoon, you're brain dead."

在Zehnder Communications，每周五下午三點半，擴音器內都會傳出荷馬•辛普森(Homer Simpson)的聲音：“我會為了一滴美味的啤酒而殺死房間里的所有人。”接著，就開始為員工開啤酒（還有那些為節食者準備的軟飲料）。

過去12年來，這家位于新奧爾良市的廣告公司的員工們一直享受著“周五免費啤酒日”。

“我們希望通過一些定期的活動，讓這里成為很棒的工作場所，”該公司首席執行官杰夫•茲恩德(Jeff Zehnder)表示，“這是一段放松時間，使大家有機會相互了解，聊一聊一周的事情。”

設計軟件供應商歐特克(Autodesk)的蒙特利爾辦公室也有著相似的傳統：周五下午屬于啤酒和薯片。該公司表示，“大家4點就可以收工”，來品嘗“各式各樣當地釀造的特色啤酒、葡萄酒，以及種類豐富的薯片。我們有時也會觀看客戶的幻燈片，但總的來說，這就是一個放松、休息和彼此溝通的機會。員工對此很欣賞。”

有些地方的政策更加寬松。“夏令時”制度在美國已實施很長時間。通常，每年5月至10月，員工可以每天早晨提前上班，這樣周五中午就可以下班。人力資源咨詢公司翰威特(Hewitt Associates)稱，10%-12%的美國大公司為員工提供這種選擇。百事公司(PepsiCo)在英國雷丁(Reading)的總部也施行此項政策。

讓員工提前結束一周的工作，可能看起來十分無私，但一些有力的證據表明：這可能是利用周五下午的最佳方式。原因在于，就算雇主不給員工提供放松時間，他們自己也會想辦法給自己放松。英國就業法律咨詢服務處(Employment Law Advisory Services)的研究表明，由于員工周五下午開小差，英國企業每年損失5000萬英鎊。研究發現，最常見的三個理由依次是：編造的會議、拖延午餐時間以及約了醫生。英國汽車救援服務供應商汽車協會(Automobile Association)的研究支持上述觀點。他們的調查顯示，周五下午的交通高峰實際上從中午就開始了。

就業法律咨詢服務處咨詢主管彼得•穆尼(Peter Mooney)表示：“這是一種全球性的流行現象。周五下午的電子郵件和電話，到周一早上才能得到回復，這種情況多得令人吃驚。越來越多的員工將周五下午視作非官方假日。”

心靈健身房(Mind Gym)學習發展咨詢公司的董事之一，塞巴斯蒂安•貝利(Sebastian Bailey)表示，在許多公司，即便員工人在其位，心思可能也在別處。“如果沒有緊迫的期限，員工們周五下午會懈怠下來……他們開始松油門。上Facebook之類的網站放松放松，是一種尤其突出的現象。”事實上，這種現象已如此出名，以至于在語言文字都得到了體現。例如，人們用“周五下午的汽車”來指那些質量不達標的車輛，認為它們是在周五午飯后生產的；有時周五還被稱為“詩人日”，因為在英語中，“早點開溜，明天周六”(piss off early, tomorrow's Saturday)這一短語的首字母組合與“詩人”(Poets)的拼寫一致。

這樣一來，按照生意人的邏輯，既然員工無論如何都會這樣做，如果雇主能從中獲得功勞，那何樂而不為呢。除此之外，雇主在組織放松聚會的同時，也為員工們提供了一個機會，來加強團結，了解一些日常工作沒有交集的同事，并探討一下這周的重大事件。與驅使員工一直工作到終場鐘聲響起相比，也許那些讓員工在周五下午放松的公司能獲得更高的生產力。

貝利稱：“周五下午讓大家早點兒下班，或是來點啤酒和比薩餅，能夠使員工更開心、更投入，也更忠誠。”他補充稱，這樣做的回報，往往是員工在其他時間會更加賣力。

茲恩德則表達得略為簡潔：“在這兒工作，你一周都在拼命干活。到了周五下午，你已經腦死亡了。”