2022 Happy Workplaces Conference
The 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference took place entirely online with over 150 attendees participating in the virtual event.
With incisive talks from speakers such as Andrew Barnes of The 4 Day Week programme, Liz Wiseman of The Wiseman Group, and Cemal Ezel of Change Please.
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Watch clips and read excerpts from the conference
Below are videos of the highlights from the 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference with blogs discussing the ideas and themes in greater detail.
Andrew Barnes: Why the 4 Day Week is the Future of Work
Andrew Barnes is the head of New Zealand's biggest corporate trust company, Perpetual Guardian, but he's probably better known as the father of the four-day week movement. Andrew trialled the four-day week at Perpetual Guardian in 2018, despite a lot of fear and opposition from his board and management team. It was a resounding success and has grown into a movement with unprecedented momentum.
Liz Wiseman: What are Impact Players and Why are They Important to Your Organisation?
Liz Wiseman is the CEO of The Wiseman Group, a talent development and research organisation in Silicon Valley, California. Liz is also the author of bestsellers Multipliers and Impact Players, and is consistently rated by Thinkers50 as a top ranked thinker.
Change Please: A Tale of Innovation, Social Enterprise and Good Coffee
Cemal Ezel has a company called Change Please which helps homeless people become baristas, access vital services and get safely, and sustainably, off the streets. Sir Richard Branson called Change Please his ‘start-up of the year’ in 2019 and it was rated the ‘Best Social Enterprise in the World’ in 2018. Cemal personally was rated the 46th Coolest Person in the World in 2015, and we definitely agree with that!
Helen Sanderson: How do we Want to Show up Together? Confirmation Practices for Happier Teams.
Helen Sanderson was inspired by Dutch home-care organisation Buurtzorg to set up Wellbeing Teams in 2016. Helen’s aim was to radically change the way health and social care was delivered and she succeeded as Wellbeing Teams was awarded ‘Outstanding’ on its first CQC inspection.
Donna Hall: Are you Really Listening? How to Better Hear People and Increase Happiness.
When Donna Hall was the Chief Executive of Wigan Council it was facing the third worst austerity cuts in the country and yet, despite this, they won Council of the Year. The reason for this success was undoubtedly the Wigan Deal that Donna and her team created to transform the way the council worked and listened.
Pim de Morree: Want Happy, Inspired and Motivated Teams? Here's Everything you Need.
Pim de Morree is the Co-founder of Corporate Rebels. In 2016 Pim had grown weary of the corporate world and so quit his job and, alongside his friend Joost Minaar, founded Corporate Rebels in an effort to fight against the trudge and despair of outdated workplaces. Corporate Rebels started as a blog documenting Pim and Joost visiting radical workplaces and showing the world of business another way. Over time it has grown into much more than a blog, it’s a movement, a quest to make work fun.
Marwa Farouq: Teach for All - How to Focus on Diversity and Think Sustainability in Business.
Marwa Farouq is a Certified Executive Coach, Certified Family Coach and Parent Educator and works as the Global Head of Operations Circle at Teach for All. Teach for All is a worldwide network of 60 independent, locally led partner organisations who work together to develop a coalition of leaders to tackle the complex challenges facing children in disadvantaged communities.
Vivek Menon: How to Establish Self-Managing, Happy Teams in an Orthodox, Hierarchic Business.
Vivek Menon is a Senior Director of Sales at Danfoss Power Solutions. He works within the eSteering Department which Vivek describes as “the Tesla of farm equipment”. He recognised the benefits of self-managing teams and, when restructuring the department in 2017, Vivek committed to this model even though every other department at Danfoss was very traditional and hierarchical.
Hounslow Council: How Staff and Residents Remoulded the Council to Make a New, Happy Hounslow.
Steve Walker-Whitehead is the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at the London Borough of Hounslow and he helped to lead the workforce transformation programme and the development of the new One Hounslow values framework.
Next Conference: 2025 Happy Workplaces Conference
Our Happy Workplaces Conference is our biggest event of the year, and we'd love for you to join us on Thursday 12th June!
This year's event will be held in London, venue TBC. We may also offer a hybrid option for people to join us online simultaneously — do let us know if you are interested in joining online and we can add you to the waiting list.
As always, our next conference will be filled with interaction, discussion and space for reflection.
Book now and get our special half-price Early Bird rate — just use discount code Happy2025.
The Happy Conference Methodology
How do we make our conferences great, interactive experiences — where you don’t have to make an effort to meet people and you also get the chance to talk about what you hear?
