Journalists at the Financial Times are at loggerheads with management over plans to order staff back to the office four days a week by year's end, proving that even pink papers can have gray clouds.

Members of the FT's union unanimously voted to invoke the company's dispute procedure, arguing that management has not made a compelling case for abandoning the current three-day office week. The motion, shared with all FT Group NUJ members and seen by the Guardian, raises concerns that moving from three to four days discriminates against parents - particularly mothers - and would financially hurt many staff.

Staff received an email about the proposals this month, which one journalist described as a bolt out of the blue. 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.

Other concerns include that some staff were hired on the basis of a three-day commitment, and that the policy applies only to about 500 - 600 editorial staff at London's Bracken House (roughly two-thirds union members), leaving another 500 - 600 commercial, IT, events, and HR staff - plus overseas employees - on more flexible hybrid arrangements.

The FT chapel emailed members: 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, resulting in efforts that have contributed to high productivity, audience engagement, and profit. There are three escalating stages in the dispute process; the union ultimately can 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, with global operating profit up 41% year-on-year to £42.2m. The FT is owned by Japanese media group Nikkei, which outbid the new Telegraph owner, Axel Springer, with an £844m offer in 2015. Revenue at the UK operation grew 2% to £454.6m in 2024, but operating profit slumped 19% to £7.3m, attributed to inflation and investment in 30 extra employees. The FT Group's global paying audience increased from 2.57 million at end-2023 to 2.83 million at end-2024; the FT alone had 1.48 million paying readers across all formats in 2024, of which 1.35 million were digital subscribers.