The 4 Day Week on The Office: Re-Defined Documentary

In: BlogDate: Sep 22, 2022By: Claire Lickman

Happy was recently featured in The Office: Re-Defined documentary, created by Inês Santos, Noopur Jambhekar and Anagha Raghunath.

In this short extract, The Office: Re-Defined explores the four-day working week. Inês interviewed Happy's founder and Chief Happiness Officer, Henry Stewart, about the four-day week and our experiences so far. In our 'new normal' following the pandemic, is this the future of the office?

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The 4 Day Week on The Office: Re-Defined Documentary

In June 2022, Happy joined the six-month trial of a four-day working week being organised in the UK by 4 Day Week Global. We are joining over 60 other organisations in this pilot.

Happy originally tried the four-day week a few years ago during August, and this was then extended to six weeks. During the pandemic, many of Happy's people were furloughed for one day per week (or more), so everyone had to find ways to improve productivity and focus on the most important tasks. This helped to pave the way for joining the four-day week trial — post-pandemic, Happy's founder and Chief Happiness Officer Henry Stewart felt this was the right time to propose it to the organisation.

Three months into the trial, and the pilot is going well:

  • 100% of Happy's staff say they are working the 32-hour week, or just an hour or two more.
  • 100% say they are getting as much done as before, when they worked 37.5 hours
  • 100% say their overall wellbeing is better

The comments back this up: "I am loving having a day off to be outside and active, I am generally feeling much happier and in turn enjoying work so much more." Another adds: "It's very exciting to have a day off and be able to do whatever you want."

Is the four-day working week be the future of work in this new, post-pandemic world?

In this documentary produced by Inês Santos, Noopur Jambhekar and Anagha Raghunath, they explore this further. Thank you for letting us share your video!

Watch the full documentary on YouTube

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Claire Lickman

Claire is Head of Marketing at Happy. She has worked at Happy since 2016, and is responsible for Happy's marketing strategy, website, social media and more. Claire first heard about Happy in 2012 when she attended a mix of IT and personal development courses. These courses were life-changing and she has been a fan of Happy ever since. She has a personal blog at lecari.co.uk.

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