Amid the ongoing staff shortage crisis, in the United Kingdom, hundreds of companies have resorted to a new tactic to lure and retain workers from Generation Z called “early finish Fridays”. According to a report by online jobs portal Adzuna, there has been a sharp increase in postings which offer shorter days on the last day of the week, Friday and let employees start their weekend early by a few hours.
The extension of weekends, even by a few hours, is a part of the efforts taken by the companies to retain some of the younger employees who are prioritising work-life balance, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, there were more than 1,400 job ads on the UK-based job market statistics and insights firm which cited “early finish Friday” when compared to only 583 in the same month back in 2018, before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, companies have also offered perks like free barista-style coffee and massages to call back their employees working from home back to the office. Notably, the longer weekend perk has been offered more heavily at junior roles while more than 75 per cent of ads are aimed at workers with salaries of up to $49,765.
However, the trend is not all that new as Friday is also known as POETS day, the acronym which is used by workers in the United Kingdom and Australia and stands for “Piss off early tomorrow’s Saturday”. In line with this, workers punch out by 3:30 pm to begin their weekends on Friday afternoons.
In an emailed statement to Bloomberg, Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said the shift reflects the fact that employees are “demanding more” from their employers after the pandemic since work-life balance has come into focus since the pandemic and this trend might be here to stay.
“For jobseekers, a company offering early-finish Fridays signals that they are flexible in their attitude to working hours and care about their employees’ well being – two factors of utmost importance in today’s jobs market,” said Hunter. This comes as the UK is in the midst of one of the tightest labour markets in decades which has led employers to compete for staff.
One of the other factors which could have contributed to this shortage is young people in the UK shifting from work to education during the pandemic as well as the number of people in their 50s taking early retirement. Last month, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, in his Budget speech announced the removal of the lifetime allowance on UK pension savings in an effort to attract older workers back into the job market.
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