Those who work a 9-to-5 know nabbing one of the few available weekend slots with your hairdresser or nail technician requires a huge amount of forethought. Or how time-consuming it can be to get your oil changed, buy your groceries, or wait in line at the post office. The two-day weekend is simply too short to squeeze in all the errands and life admin that builds up throughout the week.
So rather than wasting precious leisure time—or worse, PTO—some workers are going ahead and scheduling their appointments on company time.
“A little reminder to everyone who works in corporate that no one at work actually needs to know what your appointments are for,” one viral TikTok post suggests. “I booked a haircut and blowdry, and then felt like getting my nails done. So now I’m on my way to do that, but they didn’t have to know that.”
In the caption, she tactfully caveats: “for legal reasons this is bad advice.”
Those in the comments backed up the sentiment: “I just put leaving early for an appointment. Doesn’t matter if it’s therapy or my hair. None of their business.”
“I said I had an appointment and asked to leave at 3:30 . . . it was for Botox,” another added.
“Just block it in the calendar,” another suggested, saying of beauty appointments: “It’s essential work.”
As companies’ efforts to force staff back into the office drag on, many employees are finding more and more creative ways to cling to the flexibility they enjoyed during the remote-work era. That might look like scheduling personal appointments during the day or trialing microshifting (breaking up the work shift into shorter bursts based on productivity levels).
How transparent you can be about your midweek blowout or personal training session depends on your relationship with your boss, as well as company policy.
“If you’re leaving work early, coming in late, or leaving for an appointment in the middle of the day, your employer might have policies around this,” Marta Říhová, HR expert at Kickresume, tells Fast Company. “In some companies, it might be acceptable, especially if you and your colleagues work flexible hours. You might just be asked to make up the time later on.”
Those hoping their bosses will enact a relaxed, blind-eye policy, however, should be cautious.
“Bear in mind that if you say you have an appointment without specifying what kind—hoping your boss will assume it’s medical—they might ask you for proof of a doctor’s appointment,” Říhová says. “Your employer can’t ask about the nature of your illness. But they can ask for proof that you’ll be at the doctor during this time.”
Recent research from video conferencing company Owl Labs found that employees are prepared to give up 9% of their annual salary for flexible working hours (and 8% for a four-day workweek). Flexibility is no longer just a perk; for many, it’s a requirement.
Workplaces that expect their employees to use precious PTO for personal appointments (or email proof that they were where they said they were) may find themselves fighting a losing battle. Many workers may just keep scheduling errands on the clock anyway. And companies could also risk losing their employees altogether.
As one commenter on the viral TikTok wrote: “‘I have an appointment’ (another interview).”