What is Premium Friday in Japan? Can I go home early?

What is premium Friday in Japan?

Premium Friday is a personal consumption promotion campaign initiated by the Government of Japan and the business community in 2017.

Its purpose is to spend a little richer (premium) time than usual on Friday at the end of the month.

Many companies recommend leaving the company at 13pm - 15pm on the last Friday of the month.

Can I really go home on Premium Friday?

Answer will be "Yes" as long as your work is done.

Just in case, if there are any people around you, it's good manners to report to supervisor and then go home.

But this is not a legal system, so it's not illegal for companies without Premium Friday.

What do employees really think about Premium Friday?

When it was first introduced, I think Japanese employees were pleased with new policy.

"So happy to go drinking beer even still at 3pm" Many Japanese people were really excited!

However, after four years, many employees were not easily pleased.

Since February of 2020, the special web site for Premium Friday has been completely silent, and there is a lot of talk on the website as to whether it will disappear naturally.

Why is that?

As a matter of course for workers, the salary is deducted for the amount of the rest hours.

Workers gradually became aware of this, and even on Premium Friday, they created their own jobs and stopped leaving company.

It seems that using Premium Friday to return home is limited to some managers who are not hourly wages other than some workers.

Can I stay at company on Premium Friday?

Interestingly, according to the Human Resources department in some companies, employees don't ask, "Can I go home on Premium Friday?" but, right now, it seems that employees are asking,

"Can I still stay and work at the company on Premium Friday?"