SURVEY SAYS: When Will You Close for the Fourth?

Of course, the 4 ^th  is on a Friday, which opens up all sorts of long weekend possibilities.  

This week, I asked readers when they would close for the Fourth – and while most indicated that they would only be closed on Friday – more than 72% , in fact – nearly one-in-five said they would be closing early on the third, as well as all day Friday.

Just under 5% were closed on Thursday and Friday, while 2% each said they would be closed all week – or not closed at all (as one reader noted, “Being a health system, the hospitals and ancillary services will be up and running, physician offices and support staff will be off on the 4th only.” ).  

And some had had a pleasant surprise – of sorts; “Our Company was planning to just close early on the 3rd, but our CEO made the announcement this week that he decided to close for the entire day on the 3rd – a wonderful surprise for many! (Unfortunately, for some of us, it only means now deciding whether to come into the office to work that day, or to work from home.)”

And - interestingly enough - those results were pretty much identical to last year (see  SURVEY SAYS: Will You Be Working on the 4th? ).

Some of my favorite VERBATIMS this week:

"At least that's the "official" closing--but not much is expected the afternoon of the 3rd and managers have the option of letting their staff go early."

"Hoping to get off early the 3rd, closed the 4th, and taking a vacation day the 7th!"

But this week's Editor's Choice goes to the reader who said their firm was "Officially closed on the fourth, but since 90% of the office is taking the 3rd off, there probably won't be anyone here after noon except the automated voice recorder."

Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!

I also asked readers what their plans for the week were - and just 58% were only going to take off on Friday.   The difference appeared to be that 13% were planning to be off on Thursday and Friday, while one-in-five were planning for the out early Thursday and all day Friday option.   

About 5% were taking off the whole week, while the remainder were taking off beginning Wednesday.   Some were not altogether sure of their plans, of course.   One reader said, "I've got to report for jury duty next week, so who knows?" , while another reader explained "Since my due date is on July 4th, I plan to leave early on the 3rd and not return until October. It will be a nice long weekend; although not likely to be all that relaxing with two other toddlers at home."      

Yet another reader who planned to be off only on the 4 ^th , applied the caveat "...if I don't quit before then..."