Stephen Fry implores us to Change the Week

Creative agency MOX London has joined the biggest global trial of the four-day working week, from 4 Day Week Global. 

With the promise of myriad benefits including happier employees, increased productivity and benefits to the businesses bottom line, Mox hopes to encourage the industry to think differently about how it operates, and highlight the importance of centring employee’s well-being in its structures. To aid in this goal, it has created this new film for 4 Day Week Global, which is directed by Ian Pons Jewell through his new production company ProdCo, with animation from Pia Graf, Dal Park, Amanda Bonaiuto, Alex Jenkins, Juan Carlos Roberto, Matteo Dang and Cheng-Hsu Chung, and sound by String and Tins. 

More than 30 companies in the UK are kicking off a six month trial run by 4 Day Week Global, in partnership with think tank Autonomy and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University for a productivity-focused, reduced-hour model of work that will see more than 1,700 employees getting a paid day off weekly throughout the course of the trial. 

”MOX was born out of the frustration with the outdated ways of working [we] experienced at the traditional ad agencies," said Matt Bolton, Co-Founder and Creative Director of MOX. "Moving towards a four-day week is the next step in our evolution. As creative businesses, we’re meant to be touchstones of the future, using creativity to drive the innovation, disruption and change that trickles down to the rest of society. But creativity needs time, it needs inspiration, and it’s seldom found stuck at your desk on a Friday at the end of a 60 hour week. Formalising a way to help our employees regain control of their week and their free time is something the industry should have been doing long before now. We’re excited to take the first step on that journey.”
  
Change the Week, which was written by Damian Le Bas and produced by Emmanuelle Le Chat and Jackson Forsythe, takes a philosophical look at the notion of the 'traditional' working week, to galvanise support for a brighter future featuring more free time, happier people and a healthier planet and, crucially, without any detriment to businesses' bottom lines. The brainchild of director Pons Jewell, the film features the voice of legendary writer, broadcaster and actor Stephen Fry.

“During the first lockdown I saw previously rigid, large corporations, suddenly accept their employees working from home," said Pons Jewell. "A trust that was previously non-existent was ushered in, for the continuation of these corporation's existence. This made me think it was a chance to bring in other changes to engrained 9-5, Monday-to-Friday work culture. Firstly, to try and create something that would highlight the need to keep flexibility for workers, to be able to be at home if they wish, but then with further research the four day week was popping up in different new articles. It seemed like there was a chance to get change made to 'the week'. But reading research isn't something many of us like to do. Reading articles is fine, but we are also swamped with information every day by way of the news media. So, an animation felt like a great way to distill all the research into an engaging piece that could be shared and digested much more.”

As part of their involvement in the pilot, MOX will also be conducting a study into the effects the four day week has on creativity, with the ambition to gain a deeper understanding of the link between free time, mental health, and the ability for creativity to flourish. The results will be shared, post-trial, in early 2023.