Full list of UK companies who have adopted four-day working week

The companies range across many sectors

Over 200 companies in the UK have made a permanent switch to a four-day working week(Image: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire)

Over 200 companies in the UK have made a permanent switch to a four-day working. The change comes with no loss of pay and companies across a range of sectors will make the change.

The companies range from marketing agencies, IT firms and consultancies to those in the charity sector, and collectively employ more than 5,000 people. The growing popularity for better working patterns at a time when employees are returning to the office full-time.

Joe Ryle, campaign director of the 4 Day Week Foundation, said the five-day working week was “invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose”. His organisation is pushing for a four-day week with the same pay and benefits as those working five out of every seven days.

The 4 Day Week Foundation’s campaign aims to promote people’s wellbeing over hours spent at work. Their campaign comes after tech giant Amazon demanded staff come back to the office every day despite having allowed hybrid working patterns for the last five years since the Covid-19 pandemic. And former Asda and Marks & Spencer chief executive Lord Stuart Rose claimed earlier in January that remote working does not amount to “proper work”.

Marketing and press relations firms made up 30 of the companies adopting the policy, while charities, non-governmental organisations and social care companies accounted for 29. There were 24 in technology, IT and software, while 22 companies in the business, consulting and management sector have also offered four-day weeks to their workers.

Spark managing director Lynsey Carolan said that “18 to 34 (year-olds), the core workforce of the next 50 years, are making their feelings known that they don’t intend to go back to old-fashioned working patterns.

“This group also say that mental health and improving their overall wellbeing are their top priorities, so a four-day week is a really meaningful benefit and a key enabler of their overall quality of life.”