UK firms try to lure Gen Z workers with ‘early finish Fridays’
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
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