happy people

What Do a Manager and an Underwater Photographer Have in Common?

The focus of Donna Reeves’ work is internal communication and engagement challenges. Although currently head of engagement at Fenwick, Donna previously worked at British multinational retailing company, Kingfisher, directing internal communication and engagement development. Donna refers back to her time at Kingfisher in her talk at the 2018 Happy Workplaces conference. In this two-minute excerpt, Donna reflects on an expression that she used with the managers: "calm the fish." Just like an underwater photographer has to move in a way that doesn't scare the fish, when a manager enters a room, they shouldn't cause anxiety or stress for their team.

What I Do Well + What is Useful + What I Love = Happiness at Work

When Laurence Vanhee joined Belgium's Ministry of Social Security, the department was struggling to recruit Belgian citizens to the civil service and simultaneously losing 40% of staff to retirement. Social Security is essential, especially in a country comprising two very distinct groups, so Laurence and her colleagues set out to change the laws in order to gain more flexibility, attract newbies and retain people. In this two minute clip from the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Laurence outlines how the Ministry circumvented traditional HR practices to focus on what staff did well, what was useful to the organisation and what they love to do.

How to Make 85,000 People Happy, According to John Lewis

Keeping 85,000 people happy at work is an imposing task. After experimenting with how to make people happy for 100 years, John Lewis has learnt that not everyone finds happiness in the same places. Sarah Gillard is the Director, Insight and Assurance within the Personnel function at the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership. In this two-minute video from the 2018 Happy Workplaces conference, Sarah offers three tips derived from the company’s decades of experimentation.

How John Lewis Puts the Happiness of its Staff at the Core of its Business

John Lewis Partnership has been experimenting with how to make people happy for a century. Its founder, John Spedan Lewis, was driven to create a workplace that functioned so that all parts of the ecosystem were in balance and worked to improve the whole. Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Sarah Gillard explains how the John Lewis Partnership goes about achieving its ultimate purpose: securing the happiness of all its members.

Creating More Inclusive Workplaces: Men & Women Working Together

Dr. Jill Armstrong and Jason Ghaboos are working together to create a more gender inclusive workplace. Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Jill and Jason (who're from the Murray Edwards College at Cambridge) explore some of our deep seated assumptions about men and women and how we apply those filters to our workplaces.

Helping Men and Women Get to Know Each Other Better at Work

Dr Jill Armstrong’s Collaborating With Men project aims to tackle everyday sexism in the workplace and lay the foundation for a more gender inclusive workplace. She believes men and women need to be working together more often if we’re ever going to see gender equality in the workplace. In this 90-second video from the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Jill offers some ideas for getting men and women to form more relaxed social interactions in the workplace.

Well-Being Check-Ins: How To Prevent Staff Burnout

Burnout is a real issue in the creative media industry. To help prevent this, Nikki Gatenby introduced well-being check-ins. Nikki is the co-owner and managing director of Propellernet, a digital marketing agency that's been named as one of the top 10 Best Places to Work in the UK for six years running. In this two-minute video from the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Nikki shares the four questions she uses to prevent burnout – are you taking your holiday? Are you taking your Propel days (their day a month to innovate)? Are you working with our resident coach? And do you know about our health plan?

How People and Purpose are Your Route to Profit

Nikki Gatenby is the owner and managing director of Propellernet, which was named one of the top 10 Best Places to Work in the UK for six years running. Digital marketing has always been their focus, but over the last decade they've gone from an unremarkable and locally-based company to a super-engaged, global player. Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Nikki explains how the decision to start putting people before profit has not only brought about greater workplace happiness, but also boosted profits.

What is the Purpose of Appraisals in Your Organisation?

After 16 years of working in HR, Sophie Bryan has found that appraisals are often used to keep evidence in case things go wrong, rather than to really improve staff performance and develop them as a person. In this two-minute video from the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Sophie asks, "what would happen if your focus was to give feedback to your team in real time, and dig deeper with your questions – or if you scrapped the appraisals process altogether?

Becoming a Leader Who Multiplies the Abilities of Your People

Have you ever worked for someone whose leadership made you feel smarter and more capable? Happy’s Cathy Busani understands the advantages of leaders who’re able multiply the abilities of their people. Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces conference, Cathy draws from Liz Wiseman’s book, Multipliers: How the Best leaders Make Everyone Smarter, to illustrate how to become a multiplier of others. Watch the complete talk below.