Are you a TWT? 

At the end of last year, we reported that the vast majority of hybrid workers were heading into a workspace on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. And, according to our latest research, this trend is going nowhere. It's not surprising, given that both the transport and service sectors have also seen an increase in mid-week customers. Thursday stands out as the most popular day to commute into the city and grab food out for the UK public.

So what exactly are TWTs and why is the mid-week journey into the office so popular?

Sometimes comically dubbed TW*T workers, this acronym simply denotes employees who tend to go to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It might not be that they're taking time off on Mondays and Fridays, but they're certainly winding down (or winding up), choosing to save their most important and time-consuming tasks for the mid-week grind.

This type of hybrid worker is more likely to conduct collaborative tasks Tuesday through Thursday, then spend the rest of the week working-from-home, doing business activities that don't require face-to-face interaction. Sending emails, Zoom calls, admin etc. The phenomenon seems to have started in the UK capital, but with the onset of the pandemic and the advent of corporate communication tools like Slack, Teams and Spot, the TWT craze has since spread across the globe.

The overwhelming majority of workers still tend to prefer the TWT structure according to our data. Back in October, 40% of NearU bookings where taking place on Thursday, with Tuesday and Wednesday following at a close second, split almost equally in popularity (around 20%). That figure took a slight downturn in November with only 38% bookings occurring on Thursdays, while Wednesday and Tuesday saw 20% and 18% respectively.

The latest NearU figures show that Thursday remains the standout day for most users to head to a workspace (with over a third still choosing to do so), while Monday and Friday are seeing consistently low bookings.

So, what's wrong with being an MF worker?

Nobody likes Mondays. I mean, why would there be so many songs dedicated to hating the first day of the week if it didn't have some ounce of truth to it? It seems office workers are still enjoying the freedoms of pandemic WFH and effectively giving themselves long weekends.

A recent study by global consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) found that workers are all preferring to work-from-home on the same days - Monday and Friday - so that their time in the office can be bunched together. Some have described this model as resembling "Swiss cheese" (imagine the holes being the time spent WFH and the cheese itself as in-person collaboration).

While some experts have worried that such a transition shows a lack of productivity at either end of the week and warned that the office 'buzz' could be completely lost, others have welcomed the positive changes that come from choosing where you work.

In the same study, AWA calculated that individual workers could cut their annual emissions by a whopping 26%. Such a reduction would save the UK around 10.5 million tons of CO2 per year - that's equal to taking 7 million return flights from London to New York.

But just because people aren't heading to the office doesn't mean they're being any less productive than usual.

We all know the feeling of having to unwillingly drag ourselves out of bed for work on Monday morning. A 2021 survey of over 2,000 American workers found that most of us don't feel that Monday productivity boost until around 10.54am, indicating that many are still waking up after two days away from work. But everyone is different, and some respondents said they are the most creative on Monday mornings because they're so well-rested.

As for Fridays, the same trend has always been occurring, with most of us mentally winding down as we get ready for the weekend. A 2017 survey by Forbes found that we get the least amount of tasks done on a Friday (and also that afternoons in general tend to be a slog).

So rather than this newfound flexibility being the root cause of a lack of productivity at the start and end of the week, perhaps it's just a reflection of a well-established tradition?

Our work schedules changing isn't a bad thing. In a world where four-day weeks and mental health days are now being openly discussed, it's only natural that the rigid 9-5 office work week would begin to reflect that. In fact, the shift to a hybrid model has many (many) advantages - and so far we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Beyond being better for the environment (as AWA's recent survey above revealed), hybrid workers are seeing an improvement in their work-life balance, and thus the many health benefits that come with that. 

From decreasing stress levels thanks to removing external factors like noise pollution, dealing with traffic and the commute in general; to increasing time available to spend with loved ones, exercising, or focussing on personal wellness. For example, downloads of the NHS Fitness app, Couch to 5k, increased by 92% during lockdown, which coincided with a pause in regular commuting.

Hybrid work can help provide that long-awaited balance between the professional and personal. With the Head Office no longer having to act as the only place that employees can get fruitful work done, workers can now be effectively in charge of their own lives. And if forgoing the office on Monday and Friday isn't hurting anyone (and in fact, might be aiding productivity), then we call this a big win for everyone involved.