Friyay! Why UK bosses are offering ‘Early Finish Fridays’

Supporting your workforce, whether it be through flexible scheduling or paid holidays, is crucial for retaining employees and being a good employer.

In the midst of the most competitive employment market in decades, UK companies are turning to a novel strategy: an early finish on Fridays.

The weekend extension is a result of efforts to attract Gen Z workers who place a higher value on work-life balance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which upended priorities and pushed firms to adopt flexible working.

Let’s understand what it means and whether it could help UK businesses to survive the labour crisis.

Also read: Work From Hell: Which type of job makes people the unhappiest?

Early finish Fridays

The custom of workers punching out by 3.30 pm on Fridays in order to start their weekends on Saturdays, known as “POETS Day, which means Piss off early, tomorrow’s Saturday,” will be given new life by this trend.

In the past month, more than 1,400 UK job advertisements highlighted an “early-finish Friday” as a perk for potential candidates, according to data gathered by the labour market statistics and insights company Adzuna.

In contrast, in 2018, five years before COVID-19 required many white-collar employees to work from home, there were only 583 company ads that promised an effective weekend extension.

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According to Bloomberg, a number of mid-to-large-sized companies are among the employers who offer the benefit.

On the list of privileges for a graduate post in merchandising is an early start to the weekend, according to fashion supplier DCK Group.

The same benefit is advertised in a job posting for a contracts manager by the aerospace company Raytheon Technologies Corp.

The Guardian reported that in one job posting for a management accountant position at the marketing company Immediate Media Co. in London, “flexible/hybrid working + early finish Fridays” is listed among the perks, along with “frequent socials,” a summer festival, and a day off for the employee’s birthday.

The four bullet points above the company’s competitive pension plan and life insurance offer also included the early finish Fridays.

Notably, the benefit has been targeted more strongly towards junior roles.

More than 75 per cent of the ads for the perk are aimed at employees with incomes between £20,000 (~Rs 20.35 lakh) and £40,000 (~Rs 40.71 lakh), indicating that firms are attempting to attract and compete with Gen Z as they enter the workforce.

According to Bloomberg, Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, believes that the shift underscores the reality that after the pandemic, workers are “demanding more” from their employers.

“For jobseekers, a company offering early-finish Fridays signals that they are flexible in their attitude to working hours and care about their employees’ wellbeing - two factors of utmost importance in today’s jobs market,” the co-founder said in an emailed statement.

Also read: Amid labour crunch, Germany taps skilled workforce laid off in Silicon Valley

Employees’ most desired perk

The most desired perk, according to a survey by employee engagement company Sodexo Engage, is finishing early on a Friday.

The benefit that employees most want is getting home early at the end of the week, surpassing their desires for summer hours, nap rooms, and even fertility treatments.

Emma Yearwood, director of HR at Sodexo Engage said, “There’s often a lot of pressure for employees to progress and hit targets, which is why offering perks like flexible working and Friday hours supports a healthy work-life balance. It also shows that as a business, you value your employees whilst encouraging them to perform their best for a great return.”

A low-cost way to boost morale

According to Yahoo News, companies may argue that enabling employees to work fewer hours is detrimental to their bottom line.

The evidence, however, indicates that it isn’t true. Here’s why.

A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that allowing employees to leave early on Fridays or any other day of the week has little to no effect on the company’s bottom line.

It noted that offering flexibility is a low-cost strategy to enhance morale because workers are inclined to make up the missed time when they have to.

Additionally, researchers from the Henley Business School at the University of Reading drew a similar conclusion after they surveyed many companies in 2019.

They discovered that they were saving nearly £92 billion (~Rs 92 thousand crore) per year or around 2 per cent of their entire revenue.

When working a four-day week, two-thirds of UK companies reported increased employee productivity and decreased sick leave.

Also read: Four-day work week, lesser take-home salary: The changes under the new labour laws

Labour shortage in the UK

The UK is finding it difficult to fill open positions in one of the most competitive labour markets in recent memory.

The number of persons in the labour force who are of working age has decreased by 216,000 since the pandemic, leaving Britain the only Group of Seven economies whose output has not yet reached its pre-Covid levels, reported Bloomberg.

This is because of the pandemic’s mass exodus of young people from the workforce into education and the sharp rise in the number of over-55s taking early retirement, reported The Guardian.

In an effort to get older people back into the workforce, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt eliminated the lifetime allowance on UK pension funds in his Budget statement last month.

This decision will benefit some of the wealthiest investors in the nation.

While the number of openings has recently decreased from all-time highs to 1.1 million as a result of the labour crisis, the number is still likely to remain high as long as the shortfall lasts.

With inputs from agencies

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