Best Practices From One of the Happiest Countries in the World

Try locating the word ‘workhappiness’ in the English dictionary. You won’t find it. In Danish, however, there is a word for this condition – arbejdsglaede. Woohoo inc claim to be the happiness-at-work experts. Arlette Bentzen is the Danish company’s Chief Happiness Officer, meaning there’s no one better positioned to give tips on attaining arbejdsglaede. Watch Arlette's full presentation at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, in which she offers three work-happiness tips derived from some of Denmark’s most progressive workplaces.

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.

Creating Great Customer Experience Through Happy Workplaces

Sarah Metcalfe is Head of Customer Service at Sure Petcare and she knows that a happy workplace is essential for enhancing the customer experience. Sarah points to research indicating that by 2020, 90% of customers will be choosing where they do business based on the customer experience. To achieve a net promoter score of around 9 or 10, it takes a human going to great lengths. In this full length video from the 2019 Happy Workplaces Conference, Sarah explains how Sure Petcare have created an environment that allows people to bring their whole selves to work.

Save 15% With Our Project Management Bundle

Managing a project effectively can be a real headache. As well as keeping track of various tasks, priorities, teams, and deadlines, you have to ensure your project is delivered on-time and on-budget too.

Radio 4 Four Thought: Let People Choose Their Managers

Catch Henry on Radio 4's Four Thought talking about why people should choose their managers.

How to Create Truly Engaging Online Conferences

Have you, like me, been to a number of online events where you just have to sit and listen while the speakers talk? There may be people that feel they learn well from this approach, but I honestly doubt it. You would probably be better off listening to some TED Talks. In this blog, Happy’s CHO Henry Stewart provides a step-by-step account of how to create a truly engaging online conference.

At Happy our aim is that staff find joy in at least 80% of their work. (And, yes, we do measure it.) So I was delighted to find that an NHS Trust, indeed the one our training centre is based within, has come to the same conclusion and sees Joy in Work as a key driver for improving quality.

How Sky UK's HR Department has Embraced Design Thinking

At Sky UK, they have embraced Design Thinking to tackle common HR issues. Design Thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based, human approach to problems. It aims to create multiple ideas during brainstorming, which can then be prototyped and tested in a empathetic way that people can easily understand. For Sky, in the final stage, they test people's reactions and gauge if it 'wows'. In this short video from the 2019 Happy Workplaces Conference, Tracey Waters explains how they applied Design Thinking to the question 'how might we help people at Sky have a fulfilling career?'

I founded Happy Ltd in 1987. Of that 28 years of running this award-winning business, the last five have definitely been the hardest. Visit our website.

Happy Workplaces: The Evidence For Improved Performance

Improved performance has been proven to result from creating a happy workplace where staff are fully engaged and happy at work.

Connecting for Happiness – Guest Blog by Shannon Banks

Eighteen months ago I left Microsoft, where I had spent 17 years. It was a huge decision for me and one I struggled with. I was really scared of the change. But do you want to guess what I was most afraid of? It wasn’t loss of income, it wasn’t status, it wasn’t instability. I was afraid I’d be unhappy.

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?

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.

Five Good News Stories From the Last Month (July 2020 Edition)

We’re currently enduring the worst public health pandemic in 100 years. Life has already undergone dramatic change and a return to “normal” is still a long way off. But despite seeming to move from one cataclysm to another in recent months and years, we live in profoundly progressive times. Modern humans are capable of amazing things. Here are five good news stories to provide respite from the doom and gloom of a regular news bulletin.