What is a closing shift? How it could protect your weekend

Spending the final 90 minutes of a Friday clearing smaller tasks and planning for the next work week can help workers manage the mental load between work and home. 

What is a closing shift?

Dedicating the last part of your Friday shift to organising, clearing and prioritising tasks before the new work week now has a name. This ‘closing shift’ is really about tying up loose ends. For many employees, it’s nothing new, but giving this work language, and setting a clear 90 minutes for it, can add value.

Therapist Judy Serfaty explains: "A closing shift can be viewed as a psychologically defined ending point. Through defining what is done, what can wait and what will happen first thing Monday, an employee is able to stop mentally rehearsing aspects of their job over their personal weekend."

By splitting your tasks into what needs to be done before the weekend and what can wait, you set a clear finish line that allows you to leave work at work. This usually looks like checking your inbox and work channels, completing a few quick or urgent tasks, communicating what you need to with coworkers and noting down what needs your attention on Monday.

Why a closing shift could be especially helpful for women

According to career coach Matthew Warzel, a closing shift can be especially helpful for women juggling a disproportionate amount of responsibilities both at work and at home. For those who are not simply clocking out on Friday and relaxing, but instead shifting straight into caregiving and household responsibilities, a closing shift can "quiet some of that mental noise" and "keep unfinished tasks from following them around all weekend."

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In a culture where women frequently feel the expectation to hold things together, a closing shift can help prevent the mental loads of work and home compounding. 

Research tells us that women are more likely to be perfectionists, track the little things and change the way they work to accommodate their colleagues. A closing shift can be an opportunity to maintain control and protect your time and energy, but it’s also important that this doesn’t become another form of invisible labour. 

Are there any downsides to a closing shift?

A successful closing shift creates healthier boundaries between work and the weekend. Although Serfaty advises people to be careful that it doesn’t evolve into "a form of anxiety-driven checking and over-responsibility". For example, feeling that you need to check your emails or anticipate every possible Monday problem before you can properly switch off for the weekend.

Eileen Pippins, an organisational psychologist and leadership coach, does believe that a successful closing shift can provide genuine psychological closure. However, she also sees a risk for employees who are good at carrying the invisible work of the workplace. 

"For women, this can intersect with a much older expectation to anticipate needs, organise details, nurture relationships and make sure everyone else is prepared," she says.

"If the closing shift becomes another expectation that women should use their personal time to ensure everything is perfectly in order, it stops being wellbeing and becomes another form of invisible labour. A closing shift should help you close work, not create an extra shift."

The key is to frame a closing shift as a helpful routine, and not another productivity metric that puts the pressure on to check every box before the work week ends.

Shari Leid, a leadership coach, shares her thoughts on the most beneficial way to approach this:

"To me, a closing shift is less about productivity and more about connection - specifically, reconnecting with yourself before you leave work," she says. "It gives you a chance to ask: How do I want to leave this week, and how do I want to enter the next one? You're not trying to finish everything. You're creating a stopping point."

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