Hundreds of UK companies are resorting to a new tactic to lure and retain workers from Generation Z amid one of the most competitive jobs market in decades – an early finish on Fridays.
The weekend extension is part of efforts to compete for younger staff who are prioritising work-life balance after the Covid pandemic upended priorities and encouraged employers to embrace flexible working.
While many businesses are still trying their best to coax staff back into the office, offering such perks as free barista-style coffee and massages, data gathered by the job market statistics and insights firm Adzuna show that last month more than 1,400 UK job postings mentioned an “early-finish Friday” as a benefit for prospective candidates.
That compares with just 583 company postings that offered an effective weekend extension in 2018, five years before Covid-19 forced many white-collar employees to work from home.
The perk has been targeted more heavily at junior roles, with more than 75% of those advertised aimed at staff on salaries of between £20,000 to £40,000, suggesting employers are trying to target and compete for Gen Z as they enter the workforce.
The trend will breathe new life into the so-called Poets day tradition – an acronym for “Piss off early, tomorrow’s Saturday” – where workers punch out by 3:30pm to begin their weekends on Friday afternoon.
The Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter said the trend may be here to stay. “Work-life balance has come into focus since the pandemic and employees are demanding more. In response, we’ve seen a surge in work perks offering flexibility or reduced hours to tempt new joiners … we expect this figure to stay strong as employers seek new methods to tempt top talent.”
It comes as employers struggle to fill vacancies amid one of the tightest labour market in decades, after an exodus of young people from work into education during the pandemic and a sharp increase in the number of over-55s taking early retirement.
The labour shortage has forced employers to compete for staff, and while the number of vacancies has dropped slightly in recent months from all-time highs to 1.1 million, the figure is expected to stay elevated while the shortage persists.
One advertisement for a management accountant role at the London-based marketing firm Immediate Media Co lists “flexible/hybrid working plus early finish Fridays” among a list of benefits that also includes “regular socials”, a summer festival and a day off for the employee’s birthday. Early finish Fridays are also listed four bullet points above the firm’s competitive pension plan and life assurance offer.
Another role for a contracted electrical technician, offering £14.63 to £19 per hour, at an unnamed but “well-established and well-respected manufacturer” notes that successful candidates will be working Monday to Friday but benefit from “early finish Friday”. It is one of the only specific benefits listed for the role, alongside “development and progression opportunities for the successful applicant”.
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It has been a popular benefit in sectors such as engineering, sales and IT, where there is higher competition for a smaller pool of skilled staff. Engineering positions accounted for 348 of the jobs advertising the perk, while 207 of the postings were for sales roles.
About 156 of the vacancies were in tech and a further 90 in general graduate positions, according to the Adzuna data. Sales and marketing accounted for the next largest cohort, with 74 job adverts listing the perk.
Hunter said: “For job seekers, if a company offers early finish Fridays it signals that they are flexible in their attitude to working hours and care about their employees’ wellbeing, which are two factors of utmost importance to today’s job hunters.”
