At the beginning of last month, we asked if everyone should take August off. Well, it’s September 1st, the first day after a bank holiday in the UK, which means most offices are filling up again.
I grew up in Canada, so the European notion that most businesses have to cope with mass staff absences because most people go on holiday at the same time has always seemed a bit of a pleasant extravagance. Even in the UK, which pales in holiday time when compared to its European cohorts but is head and shoulders ahead of its North American cousins, August is a quiet month as most staff, particularly those with school age children, head off for vacation.
Seeing everyone return to the office relaxed, smiley, often in new clothes and tanned (even those who stayed in the UK) reminds me of the first day of the school year. All those kids eager, at least for a day, to get back into the classroom. Ok, many of my colleagues are less enthusiastic about the tasks at hand but they are certainly happy to see the familiar faces that they normally lunch or gossip with a few days each week.
It made me also wonder if the French, with their 35-hour week, aren’t on to something (despite the policy’s many failings). I have often heard it said that while the French take more holidays than the British, they are more productive in business terms. And I am convinced that, on average, happier, better rested employees are more productive ones. But I have always thought that this a difficult issue to measure with any certainty.
One thing is for certain: the French certainly do lunch better than the British. Which would you prefer: an hour with three courses and wine or a prepacked sandwich and a package of crisps at your desk?
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Lucy Kellaway, FT columnist and associate editor, offers her solution to your workplace problems in a column in the Financial Times. In the 
