7 ways to find more meaning at work
Elinor Schmitz-Jansen is studying for an MSc in Management at Imperial College. She is currently working at Happy, researching academic studies of happiness and meaning in work. This is her first report:
happy people
Henry Stewart, Founder and Chief Happiness Officer
Henry is founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Happy Ltd, originally set up as Happy Computers in 1987. Inspired by Ricardo Semler’s book Maverick, he has built a company which has won multiple awards for some of the best customer service in the country and being one of the UK’s best places to work.
Henry was listed in the Guru Radar of the Thinkers 50 list of the most influential management thinkers in the world. "He is one of the thinkers who we believe will shape the future of business," explained list compiler Stuart Crainer.
His first book, Relax, was published in 2009. His second book, the Happy Manifesto, was published in 2013 and was short-listed for Business Book of the Year.
You can find Henry on LinkedIn and follow @happyhenry on Twitter.
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9 Benefits of Having Happy Employees
Following last week’s article on 7 ways to find more meaning at work, Elinor Schmitz-Jansen has continued her research. This week she covers the benefits of having happy employees.
NAO finds little evidence of savings from centralised training contract
In February I wrote about the government decision to outsource all its training – in all subjects and for all departments – to one supplier, Capita. I suggested that contracts like this rarely produce better value, as any savings from economies of scale are offset by the extra cost of administration. The recent report by the National Audit Office, on the Capita contract, appears to support my view:
The Madness of Government Procurement
I am quoted this morning in an article in the Independent: “Capita accused of using major government contract to short-change small companies, driving some out of business.”
Great work by our young Drupal apprenticeships
For the last twelve months Happy Computers has been running a Drupal apprenticeship programme, in partnership with the Drupal community, to enable young people (fresh out of school) to get an exciting start in the world of programming. (Drupal is an open source web development framework.) Three of the youngsters have been working at Dennis Publishing and, after just four months there, have produced a very impressive site for the magazine Digital SLR Photography.
Start Your Meetings With Meditation
A surprise hit at Happy Workplaces 2014 was the Google-led meditation session in the afternoon. Even Luis Saurez, who was presenting via video link from Belgium, tweeted about the room going quiet, while other delegates said they felt “very chilled” and “we need this at our organisation.” This is the meditation we used at the conference – why not try it at your next meeting?
Think Big – Like Google
At the Happy Workplace 2013 conference Yvonne Agyei (Google Head of Benefits) explained Google’s Think Big philosophy. Or as she put it, “have a healthy disregard for the impossible”.
Google: Hire Great People and Give Them Lots of Autonomy
At the Happy Workplace 2013 conference Yvonne Agyei (Google Head of Benefits) explained how Google creates happy and healthy Googlers.
1 Million Pounds to Spend and Nobody is Interested
Happy is moving. A month ago, just before the deadline for the landlord’s break clause approached, a law clerk arrived at our office and served a notice to quit. The landlord plans to redevelop the building and we have to be out of our office by 30th October.
Reduce Expense Claims: Let Your People Decide What to Spend
In his excellent book “Becoming a Better Boss“, Julian Birkinshaw describes a very interesting experiment at the pharma multi-national Roche. Two groups of staff, in Germany and Switzerland, were told that their travel claims were to become self-authorised.
