Two hundred UK companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week for all their employees with no loss of pay, in the latest landmark in the campaign to reinvent Britain’s working week, reports The Guardian. Together the companies employ more than 5,000 people, with charities, marketing and technology firms among the best-represented, according to the latest update from the 4 Day Week Foundation.
Joe Ryle, the foundation’s campaign director, said that the “9-5, five-day working week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. We are long overdue an update.”
Research by Spark Market Research suggests that younger workers are the most likely to rail against traditional working patterns. About 78% of 18-34-year-olds in the UK believe a four-day working week will become the norm in five years’ time, while 65% said they do not want to see a return to full-time office working.
Finance and accounting recruitment is expected to remain resilient in the UK during the first half of the year, according to research from Robert Half.
In its latest survey, Robert Half found that 58% of employers are planning to increase their permanent headcount in the first half of the year. This marks a 6% increase when compared to intentions recorded in the second half of 2024.
The research also found that firms are increasing their reliance on contract and project staff to mitigate employment costs ahead of the NICs (National Insurance Contributions) increase, without hindering business-as-usual activity.
More than a third (38%) are planning to expand their contract resources in the next six months, up 7% on the final half of last year. A further 46% plan to increase their project-based hiring in the remit in H1 2025, up 6% points for H2 2024.
“Regardless of the general sentiment around hiring in the UK as a whole, there are clearly still pockets of optimism in core sectors, with finance and accounting leading the way,” Steve Sully, regional director, of finance & accounting, at Robert Half said in a press release. “We have seen a steady demand for permanent and temporary resources, which is unsurprising given the critical role that these professionals play in business operations.”
Sully added that growth in contract and project hiring planned for the beginning of this year is a trend Robert Half would always expect to see during periods of economic uncertainty.
“However, the permanent hiring statistics paint a far more positive picture for the sector than many perhaps had anticipated at the start of 2025,” Sully added. “It will be critical to monitor how these hiring plans translate into success over the next six months. We can’t ignore the fact that there are skills shortages in the remit which means firms may still find it difficult to attract the core professionals they need. In this scenario, it’s likely that we’ll see further demand for contract and project resources.”
Contract hiring in the UK surged at the end of 2024, with new roles increasing 33% year-on-year, according to the latest data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) and Bullhorn.
Compared to the number of new contract roles added before the economic disruption of COVID-19, the statistics indicated a buoyant market. The number of these roles reported in the final month of last year saw a 5% uptick when compared to December 2018, putting contract hiring above pre-pandemic levels.
“It has been a tough start to the year and there will be bumps in the road in the coming months with the National Insurance Contribution (NICs) increases and further employment legislation reforms on the cards,” Ann Swain, Global CEO at APSCo said in a press release. “However, within the professional contract staffing market in particular, there is still demand for highly skilled individuals who have long been in short supply. This is a trend that we have seen during times of economic disruption and does suggest that there is an end in sight to the uncertainty that has dragged on for far too long.”
Swain said APSCo anticipates a greater level of optimism once the rollout of NICs has been implemented and businesses begin to once again plan for growth.