As social media trends go, the soft days off craze is, on the face of it, hardly the most destructive idea to be shared.

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Millions have tuned in to short videos explaining how you can save on annual leave by getting what needs done out of the way on the sly while you are working from home.

As well as presenting the idea that you can go to the gym, do your washing, buy your shopping and sort out any number of things, all in the company’s time, the videos even give techniques as to how you can best exploit your confines.

The videos are presented and framed with a gung-ho, stick it to the man kind of energy as if the employee is morally winning by taking time back from their employer - time that could be spent doing far more fulfilling and necessary activities than their job.

But I’m here to argue that the real loser might be the employee and not their employer.

Soft days off are a relation to another modern trend, quiet quitting, where the staff member puts in the least amount of effort and coasts. But soft days off are, if anything, even more of a two fingers up. Quiet “quitting” at least implies that you tried at some point in your employment before deciding to trail off and that your mind might be on future work opportunities. But some of the soft days off exponents appear completely fine with their comfortable and low stress workplace situations and are unwilling to trade something so unchallenging.

While we can all enjoy the odd shift that allows a chance to nip out for a coffee or put on a load of washing, these things are more enjoyable when they are not the norm. From experience of previous jobs (particularly one I had during the pandemic) I found that being underemployed will ultimately only leave someone one step up from being unemployed and, after a while, feeling directionless, underappreciated, and bored, maybe even depressed. To put it another way, the only thing worse than having a job that makes you work hard is not having one.

But, at the other end of the spectrum, having a soft day off is no substitute for a day of rest. If there is no respite to be had over the weekend or on annual leave - workers will not find that slacking off during office hours will recharge their batteries. Rather than the traditional five day week, I am fearful that we are evolving into a world where we are expected to be on all the time - yet just never working particularly hard or investing in anything meaningful.

It might be that work from home deniers might point to the soft day off trend as evidence that WFH is no substitute for an office job. But statistics and studies show that there is no evidence that productivity is greater when you are with your colleagues - and that more can get done, in actual fact, when you are working from home. Yet, as with anything, the "working" part is required in WFH.

Taking a soft day off might feel like self care, but staying in a cushy role and ultimately not challenging yourself or striving towards anything is ultimately self destructive. Real self betterment can only come through fulfilling work balanced with time of absolute rest.

William Mata is a writer and SEO editor for LBC.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

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