Great Workplaces Make More Money
Fortune magazine tracked companies from the great workplaces list over 12 years, and found 3-fold outperformance over the stock market.
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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Happy Staff are More Productive
“Improved psychological well being (PWB) leads to a more productive and successful workplace. The case has been proven in academic studies over the last ten years.” Those were the words of Ivan Robertson, giving a seminar on well-being at the LSE this week.
3 Key Elements to Make Your Presentation Great
Engaging PowerPoint Presentations is one of my favourite courses to teach. I get people to evaluate which slides work and which don’t. They look at their own experience of great presentations. Believe it or not, it is never to do with slides full of bullet-pointed text appearing on screen.
Unhappy Customer? Let Them Decide What to Pay
Being CEO of Happy means I get to deal with anybody who we have upset and who my colleagues haven’t managed to make happy. This doesn’t happen often and it’s never good to speak to a customer who we have let down but I do actually enjoy the task. Based on being open, admitting anything we got wrong and finding out what they need, there is nearly always a way to meet people’s needs.
How to Increase Your Procurement Costs: Use Economies of Scale Rather Than Competition
For best value in buying products there are two different approaches: Use the forces of competition, or use economies of scale.
Yes to Fairer Voting
Almost thirty years ago I stood for election for President of the Student Union and came top. But the election was run under AV, the Conservative votes switched to the Independent candidate and I never got the sabbatical post.
Following Socrates and Creating Empowerment
It’s funny when I find myself quoted and it’s a better summary than I’d do myself.
Happiness is a Political Issue
I was delighted to be involved in the launch of Action for Happiness last week, giving a short speech on increasing happiness in the workplace.
Is Your Company an Ostrich or a Fox?
These are the two ends of customer service. On the one hand you have you have the foxes, eagerly scouring the internet to find any negative mention of their name and responding directly to the customer. And then there are the ostriches, burying their heads in the sand, and somehow managing to ignore negative feedback even when it is submitted on their own feedback forms.
Ethical Investment: It Has Paid Off For Me
Recently I’ve found myself several times in lively discussions about whether choosing to invest ethically means accepting a lower financial return.
