Monday, Monday — can't trust that workday

Pssst. Lean closer. I want to tell you a secret about the newspaper business.

If you're scheduling an event, and you want good coverage, avoid Mondays.

I don't know what it's like at other newspapers, but here at the Deseret Morning News, we operate with something of a skeleton crew on Mondays. That's because we have to fill several weekend shifts, and we tend to give the reporters scheduled for those wonderful spots in the Saturday rotation the previous Monday off.

I know all of this, in painful detail, because my least-favorite duty at the News — nothing else even comes close — is preparing the schedule for city-desk reporters and editors.

Those of you responsible for scheduling in your organizations feel my pain, I'm sure. There's nothing fun about deciding who has to work which weekend or talking to other editors to coordinate vacation requests.

Bleh.

But serving as scheduler for the last few months has given me insights into the work habits of the average reporter and editor. And that leads me to the latest interesting-but-silly survey to cross my desk.

Accountemps, a specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, hired an independent research firm to ask 150 senior executives at some of the nation's 1,000 largest companies, "In your opinion, on which day of the week are employees generally most productive?"

According to the survey, 57 percent of executives said Tuesday is the most productive day of the week for their employees.

Monday came in second, with 12 percent saying it was the most productive day. That was down from 26 percent who rated Monday as the most productive day in a 2002 survey.

Wednesday and Thursday tied, with 11 percent of executives rating each of those days as most productive.

Friday was rated as the most productive day by only 3 percent of respondents. Apparently, I'm not the only one who is easily distracted on the last day of the work week. (Six percent of executives said they did not know which day was most productive, which makes you wonder whether they are paying attention to what their employees are doing.)

Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps, said in a prepared statement that Monday may suffer because it is a "catch-up" day after the weekend.

Monday also is the day on which many regularly scheduled meetings occur, Messmer said. And I know from personal experience that nothing cuts productivity like a meeting.

I attend two meetings every day here at the News, at 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. They always last at least 30 minutes and sometimes drag on for 45 minutes or more. Though I know they serve a purpose, I can't honestly say they're always completely productive.

But enough of my whining. At least for now.