Financial Times journalists invoke dispute procedure over four-day office return mandate

Journalists at the Financial Times are at loggerheads with the publication's management over plans to order staff back to the office four days a week by the end of the year. Members of the Financial Times' union have unanimously voted to invoke the company's dispute procedure over the proposals, arguing that management have "not made a compelling case" for the need to move from the current three office days. Staff received an email about the proposals this month and the FT chapel of the National Union of Journalists held a "fiery meeting" to invoke the dispute procedure with Tobias Buck, the FT's managing editor. Officers at the NUJ are understood to have been informed of the dispute this week. "The email was a bolt out of the blue," said one journalist. "We don't believe the case has been made at all." The motion, shared with all FT Group NUJ members and seen by the Guardian, raises a range of concerns about the impact of a four-day mandate. These include whether the step up of a day discriminates against parents, and particularly mothers, and the detrimental impact on finances for many staff. Other issues raised include that some staff appear to have been hired on the basis of a commitment to three-day office working. Another concern is that the policy would apply only to about 500 to 600 staff in FT Editorial who work at its London headquarters at Bracken House. Of these about two-thirds are believed to be union members. It does not include another 500 to 600 staff at its head office, including the commercial, IT, events and HR departments or FT Specialist, the business magazine operation. Staff based in other offices, including overseas, would also remain on more flexible hybrid working arrangements. In an email to members, the FT chapel said: "The FT chapel believes that the edict comes at a time when, more than ever, our coverage depends on the goodwill and flexibility of editorial staff.[This has resulted] in efforts that have contributed to high productivity, audience engagement and profit." There are three escalating stages in the dispute process under the FT's house agreement with staff. The FT union also ultimately has the option to ballot for strike action. A spokesperson for the FT said it was "discussing newsroom office attendance with the NUJ". The FT reported a 6% increase in global revenues to £540m in 2024, according to an internal company report released last year. The publisher said global operating profit had risen 41% year-on-year to £42.2m. The FT is owned by the Japanese media group Nikkei, which gazumped the new Telegraph owner, Axel Springer, with a £844m offer in 2015. Revenue at the UK operation grew 2% to £454.6m in 2024, according to filings at Companies House for Financial Times Ltd. However, operating profit slumped by 19% to £7.3m, a drop attributed to inflation and investment in 30 extra employees. The FT Group's global paying audience increased from 2.57 million at the end of 2023 to 2.83 million at the end of 2024. The FT alone reached 1.48 million paying readers across all formats in 2024, of which 1.35 million were digital subscribers.