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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if work deliberately send upsetting emails on Friday

180 replies

Arbesque · 10/10/2022 08:21

The results of a promotion competition at work were announced on Friday afternoon. So lots of people going home upset for the weekend. I said to a colleague that it was a bit mean and they could have waited until Monday, but she reckons it's deliberate so that people will calm down over the weekend and not kick up a fuss in work.

Apparently it's common practice in lots of workplaces to announce bad news just before the weekend.

Has anyone else heard this?

OP posts:
listsandbudgets · 10/10/2022 11:30

We once got some bad news sent on a Friday afternoon at 4.58pm.

There was a PS saying they were retiring at the end of the day and to contact X or Y from now on. By the time we emailed back at 5.15pm to wish them happy retirement, good luck etc. their email address had been deleted!!

We later found he knew what our reaction would be and had been storing the news since Wednesday Grin

Original poster
Arbesque · 10/10/2022 11:36

Toooldtocareanymore · 10/10/2022 10:18

yes definitely our policy here, bad news Fridays and good news Mondays, its to give people some time and space to mull it over, we always want to minimize knee jerk reactions, if someone gets a bad review or a warning or anything its always done on a Friday morning, not at end of day, and we set up a meeting for Monday or Tuesday to discuss, and it works both ways as one of my colleagues a few years ago mentioned when someone handed in a letter of resignation on a Wednesday that he'd never seen that before we always get them Fridays

That sounds awful. Leaving people on a Friday to worry all weekend about a meeting?

OP posts:
Inyournewdress · 10/10/2022 11:46

Our rental managers definitely do this, last thing on a Friday a message comes across saying oh, by the way we have to knock down a wall Monday morning hope that’s ok.

Sisisimone · 10/10/2022 11:47

Yes it's a well known tactic. I work in finance and Fridays are known as Fuck off Fridays here. Have also known managers to drop a bombshell email just before leaving for the day so that they're not around when everyone inevitably goes apeshit

Fortuny · 10/10/2022 11:51

When I worked in travel it was the same. If an airline collapsed and all flights were cancelled they'd announce it at 5pm on a Friday. Caused chaos

SavingsThreads · 10/10/2022 11:53

Dropping a bombshell then leaving them adrift for a couple of days is cruel.

To you. Not everyone thinks the same. If I had bad news about work, I'd want to be anywhere but!

I've had to fire two people. One told me how awful it was that I'd done it on a Friday so they had to think about it all weekend being able to be a dick to me ask me questions. So the next time I did it on a Monday, and that person told me how awful it was that I had done it when they then had to be around me all week and work be a dick to everyone.

Sometimes you can't win, and there are always people who thing everything is a management conspiracy, as though all managers are part of a hive mind organised mob.

LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee · 10/10/2022 12:05

ZiriForEver · 10/10/2022 08:54

Sounds quite unfair, dropping bombs on Friday and expecting people to deal with it in their leasure time. Processing work related news is a work.

I don’t necessarily agree, and I would say it makes sense for the company to not want people to spend working hours discussing/speculating/complaining etc.

CiderGlider · 10/10/2022 12:06

We actively do the opposite and not send out upsetting info on a Friday. However, I can see why some organisations would choose to deliberately send it out on a Friday to ensure employees are upset on their own time and not works.....I'm glad I work for the former kind of organisation.

bewarethetides · 10/10/2022 12:08

good practice, tbh

It's why a lot of schools send report cards home on Friday afternoon, too ... go give parents a chance to calm down, think rationally, before they start grilling/annoying teachers, etc.

ChampagneLassie · 10/10/2022 12:27

I'd not heard this before and whilst I can see the logic I certainly don't think it's ideal. I did my masters thesis focusing on building corporate culture and communication is so integral to a healthy WORKPLACE culture. A better approach would be to communicate bad news sensitively and actively seek employees feedback so its a two way process.

reigatecastle · 10/10/2022 12:30

mumda · 10/10/2022 08:39

Friday bombing. Deeply offensive technique that people should be strung up for.

It's really annoying when people send you letters to arrive on a Friday as well so you can't phone them about it until Monday. For example, if you are in the process of buying a house and you get a letter from a solicitor on a Friday (when you arrive home from work, so after they've left for the weekend).

reigatecastle · 10/10/2022 12:31

LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee · 10/10/2022 12:05

I don’t necessarily agree, and I would say it makes sense for the company to not want people to spend working hours discussing/speculating/complaining etc.

Show quote history

Another advantage of WFH I guess, no gossiping on company time!

reigatecastle · 10/10/2022 12:34

SarahSissions · 10/10/2022 10:06

I spend most of my week writing emails and scheduling them to land on a Friday, quite often last thing. Particularly in tense contract negotiations, I’ll land something at 4:50 it’s a common tactic

And this is why I am not a transactional lawyer. Because the other side think it's fun to ruin your weekend.

Or indeed your own side when they send you a job to do at 5.29pm on a Friday that they "need" for 9am on Monday.

Wideawakeandconfused · 10/10/2022 12:36

Absolutely deliberate. I’ve worked alongside many HR teams, and solicitors and this was always a tactic used when delivering bad news. The intention was not to create more upset, but rather give people time and space and have a follow up once they’d spoken to their support groups.

PeppaPigsBonnet · 10/10/2022 12:40

A similar situation, my line manager at one place I worked, often rang me at 16.55 on a Friday with some nonsense important matter she wanted to discuss.

I was sure it was to check that I hadn't left early🙂

Alarm59 · 10/10/2022 12:41

Yup, we got told our work was getting an overhaul and some roles might be redundant. On a Friday afternoon.

Come the Monday they were mean enough to give even more shit news leaving me to struggle facing the public at work that day

i left weeks later for their BS

Doingprettywellthanks · 10/10/2022 12:47

People will whinge no matter what days it’s on.

Monday? “Oh great, what a day to tell us. Mondays are shitty enough”

Thursdays? Means Friday, already a notoriously low productivity day is hugely less than normal because everyone is gossiping about previous days news!

starpatch · 10/10/2022 12:52

I actually don't think its that bad a thing to time it that way. When I worked for PIP was repeatedly told I needed to hit audit targets in 2 weeks or be sacked, usually they would pull me out when I was trying to prepare for the first client of the day, then expect me to call the client straight away although upset. Giving the news at the end of the day would have been fairer.

dontdothistome · 10/10/2022 12:53

Maybe I'm having a thick Monday, but why is this upsetting news? I don't understand? If I've understood it correctly, you're told that you didn't get a promotion at work on Friday evening? That's disappointing but hardly upsetting.
However, I do agree that I always seem to have things hanging over me on a long weekend! More suspense waiting to hear the outcome of something rather than being given bad news.

Doingprettywellthanks · 10/10/2022 12:58

dontdothistome · 10/10/2022 12:53

Maybe I'm having a thick Monday, but why is this upsetting news? I don't understand? If I've understood it correctly, you're told that you didn't get a promotion at work on Friday evening? That's disappointing but hardly upsetting.
However, I do agree that I always seem to have things hanging over me on a long weekend! More suspense waiting to hear the outcome of something rather than being given bad news.

Odd post

pigcon1 · 10/10/2022 13:00

if bad news needs to be delivered at work I always give it first thing and on a day where people can come and speak to me if they have concerns. The reason people leave things to Friday afternoon if because they don’t want to have “difficult” conversations, but it just looks unprofessional, if you’ve made a decision you’ll need to be able to explain it. If the person receiving the information is going to be upset I aim to speak to them to deliver the message in person before an e-communication goes out (not always possible), this saves time in the long run.

MargaretThursday · 10/10/2022 13:02

Arbesque · 10/10/2022 08:43

Thanks for the replies.

I always find it easier to get over bad news at work if I'm with colleagues, can discuss it, put some perspective on it etc

Stewing on my own over the weekend makes it feel worse.

But it I would prefer to get over it on my own over the weekend.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 10/10/2022 13:03

I always send my bad news emails out on a Friday before I log off!

StellaAndCrow · 10/10/2022 13:04

It seems to be GMC policy.

drpet49 · 10/10/2022 13:04

SquirrelSoShiny · 10/10/2022 08:23

Yes. Lets people lick their wounds over the weekend in peace.

This. It is the most sensible course of action.

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