Together Active launches Happiness Manifesto on Blue Monday

Blue Monday is often described as the time of year when people feel at their lowest, with the dark mornings, cold weather, and post-Christmas bills taking a toll. But for Together Active this year, it’s a moment to talk honestly about how work affects people’s health and wellbeing.

This Blue Monday, the organisation has shared its new Happiness Manifesto, setting out how it plans to create a working environment where staff are supported to live healthy, balanced and active lives, so they can do their best work for local communities.

“We know that how people feel at work matters,” said CEO Carly Jones. “When people are stretched, tired or burnt out, it affects their health and the quality of what they’re able to give. We want to create a culture where people can look after themselves and do work they’re proud of.”

Why now

Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, many people face real challenges with mental and physical health. One in four adults in Staffordshire are inactive, and in Stoke-on-Trent fewer adults meet recommended activity levels than the national average. Rates of depression are also higher than elsewhere in England.

Together Active believes these issues are closely linked to working life, stress and lack of balance.

“Blue Monday gets people talking about how tough this time of year can be,” Carly Jones added. “But these pressures don’t disappear once January is over. Our Happiness Manifesto is about changing how we work, day in and day out.”

Creating Healthier Ways of Working

The Happiness Manifesto was written with staff and focuses on simple, practical commitments that support wellbeing at work. These include:

• respecting personal time, with no contact while colleagues are on leave or outside working hours
• encouraging healthier and more creative ways of working, including taking meetings outdoors and moving more during the work day
• supporting learning, honesty and personal development across the team

As part of putting these commitments into practice, Together Active is also trialling a four-day working week, giving staff more time to rest, be active and maintain a better balance between work and life.

Leading by example

Together Active works with partners across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent to improve physical activity, mental wellbeing and long-term health, particularly for people who are most excluded from being active. The organisation says creating a healthier workplace for its own staff is part of that wider responsibility and an important step towards making activity more accessible for everyone.

“If we want to support healthier, more active communities, we have to pay attention to how our own people are working and living,” said Carly Jones. “This manifesto is about creating the conditions for people to thrive, not just get through the week.”