Why we implemented a four-day working week.
Nature Fridays is our four-day working week initiative to increase the amount of time available for our team to spend with Nature. Its aim is to deepen Nature connection and enhance wellbeing, creativity, productivity, social connection and more.
At House of Hackney, we recognise that we are part of Nature. We also recognise how vital human connection to Nature is for the mutual flourishing of all life on Earth.
In recent times, this connection to Nature has greatly diminished, particularly in Western countries where ways of life and working see us spending the majority of time indoors. At the time of writing this guide, the UK, where our brand was founded, ranks lowest of 18 European countries for Nature connectedness.
Working cultures that promote sedentary, desk-based, and technology-dependent work patterns have dominated modern business. Not only can these lead to physical and mental health concerns over time, they stifle creativity, collaboration and more.
As part of our journey to become a regenerative business, we are passionate about finding ways to deepen physical and emotional connections to Nature and establish work patterns based around thriving. We want to do this for people who work for and with our company and in communities where we have a presence.
Starting inside our company and keen to attune our work to Nature’s rhythms, we began exploring flexible working patterns in 2019. Initially, we put a seasonally aligned initiative in place that gave our team a four-day working week during Spring Summer months.
Then in 2022, being mindful of Nature’s cycles, we added a five-day week with a daily 4pm finish for Autumn Winter months. The aim was for the team to work more in harmony with their circadian rhythms for that time of year and be able to lean in to rest and restoration.
As well as enjoying the benefits of this flexibility, we experienced some challenges with the seasonal structure of the initiative due to our business context. They included:
- Our peak trading times are often during Autumn/Winter months which meant some departments regularly worked after 4pm during these periods.
- We established US operations and the 4pm finish in the UK meant that the time period for cross department working was much shorter than needed.
After reviewing the policy with our team as part of a wider regenerative mission review in 2024, they shared a clear preference for a permanent four-day working week.
As an independent, founder-led growing business we operate in a busy environment so wellbeing is at the heart of our culture.
A four-day working week alone has many proven benefits, from enhanced work life balance, improved mental and physical health, staff retention and engagement, gender equality, more connected communities, reduced carbon footprints and more. We are a 4 Day Week Foundation accredited business.
We wanted to go deeper on the potential benefits of this additional time and layer on a Nature connection focus to our four-day working week.
There is growing evidence that Nature connectedness is associated with both wellbeing and pro-environmentalism. For example, research in science journal Nature reports that individuals spending at least 120 minutes in Nature over a week long period had consistently higher levels of both health and wellbeing than those who had no exposure over the same time period.
Encouragingly, the Nature Connectedness Network states that people with high levels of Nature connectedness are 3.5 times more likely to take action to protect Nature, which is needed now more than ever.
Nature connectedness can also bring about more engaged senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch), a greater sense of awe and wonder and one of belonging.
Nature Fridays is an opt-in, four-day working week policy for our team in the UK and US. Every team member has Friday off work* with the aim of:
- Enhancing physical and emotional wellbeing overall
- Enhancing creativity in and outside of work
- Encouraging social connection
- Improving productivity while at work
- Increase likelihood of taking action for Nature
You can download our full Nature Fridays guide to get more details on how we have implemented it within our company. We hope this will be useful for others who wish to apply this idea, or parts of it, with their own teams.
As this is a new initiative, we will report our progress annually. Please look out for updates on our social media, website and impact report.
Taking our cue from Mother Nature & Future Generations and following research developments, we hope that our approach supports better wellbeing and increases the value people place on Nature as a vital lifegiving resource, and in turn, their desire to protect it.
As this is a new initiative, we will report our progress annually. Please look out for updates on our social media, website and impact report.
Supporting documents
Nature Fridays Policy, House of Hackney
Time With Nature Policy, House of Hackney - please get in touch to request a copy
Nature Connection Handbook, Nature Connectedness Network
Nature Connected Organisation, Nature Connectedness Network
Summary of Nature Connection measurement scales, University of Derby
Why a 4 Day Week?, 4 Day Week Foundation
