International Week of Happiness at Work starts today!

Today (23 September 2024) is the start of International Week of Happiness at Work!

The week began in 2018 to connect people and organisations that consider work happiness important.

It aims to initiate conversations on how we can make being happy at work the norm. This way we can collectively work towards putting happiness at work on the agenda everywhere and making it normal to focus on it.

27% of employees have one or more bad workdays per week. There is still a significant difference between how happy we feel at work and in the rest of our lives, with work scoring significantly lower.

This is unfortunate because we spend a lot of time at work, and if we are happy there, it can greatly affect the rest of our lives.

Employee happiness is also important to an organisation too. Happy employees tend to be:

• healthier and more engaged;
• more likely to stay at a company;
• better at working together; and
• more productive.

Ways to boost happiness at work include:

• spread the positivity: celebrate employees, and encourage employees to give thanks to other colleagues that have helped them through the week, this will make employees feel valued and respected;
• set up a happiness group: a dedicated group to raise awareness about the importance of happiness in the workplace, that can share happiness boosting tips and looking out for ways to raise happiness levels at work;
• invest in training and development: these opportunities offer employees a chance to learn new skills, overcome challenges and contribute to a great purpose;
• prioritise employee health: encourage healthy habits with a healthy work environment, packed with activities that promote physical activities and a healthy work-life balance;
• team time: encourage teams to spend time together outside of the work setting, such as a team lunch or an after work activity;
• gather feedback: listening to employees and acting on their feedback is key to maintaining a happy workplace; and
• read and sign the Happiness at Work Manifesto.