For many people, summertime means Fourth of July parties, trips to the beach, backyard barbecues, and—a shortened work schedule?

That’s right; many offices in the PR and marketing field observe so-called summer hours. We wanted to know just how many of our readers had this perk, so we surveyed the members of the PR Daily LinkedIn Group.

Turns out the vast majority will not be hitting the beach before 5 p.m. According to our poll, 62 percent of respondents don’t have summer hours in the workplace.

“I think that in some organizations augmented hours are a positive attribute,” said John MacDonald, adjunct instructor at Fox Valley Technical College. “But on the other hand, in some cases it is just not possible, and that’s why many companies have certain benefits while others do not.”

Meanwhile, 30 percent of respondents said yes, their offices do have summer hours, and 17 percent said sometimes.

“We have set office hours, but our set hours are pretty flexible year round,” said Scott W. Thornburg, a PR coordinator at Red Square Agency. “We will have a few summer office parties (instead of going to work on a Friday, we all go to the beach). Also, if we've had a really productive week and there are no pressing deadlines, the CEO may tell us all to go home at 3 instead of 5 on a Friday afternoon.”

Claire Celsi, a PR pro (and PR Daily contributor), said summer hours actually hinder employee productivity.

“Summer hours are bogus,” she said. “The policy just gives slackers an excuse to hit the door early, while the rest of the workers will be there longer hours anyway to get their work done.”

In response to Celsi’s comment, Elizabeth Baxter, a graduate student at the University of California, said the problem is the slackers, not the hours.

More than 200 people took our poll, which offered respondents three choices from which to choose: Yes, No, or Sometimes. The poll was promoted via Twitter and PR Daily.

What’s the summer-hours policy at your office?