One point increase in self-reported happiness led to around 12 % increase in productivity, on average, among call centre workers. There is a demonstrated causal link between worker happiness and productivity in the first large scale field study of its kind. The study over six months was with 1793 British Telecom call centre workers across the UK.

In building popular workplaces, a key measure in other parts of the UK this year was individual’s wellbeing. To ensure employees are happy, companies are becoming more innovative.

Bristol Firm – 4242 employees could have up to three days paid leave per year to volunteer outside of work. The company also added 9% to salaries for individuals to access benefits such as gym membership.

Pizza Express – 9242 employees were supplied with up to 4 free pizzas, per month.

A London Recruitment Firm – introduced monthly get togethers, had a staff ball and added £500 as an annual wellbeing allowance.

Other firms – run wellness programs across employees. Some of these programs contain mental health coaches as well as financial advice.

Other happy factors

Pay (whilst important) it is not the most important element in being happy and engaged at work.

Thank you note to staff. Research has shown that the average organisation says “thank you” to employees once every two months. This represents a flight risk when compared to the organisation who make “thank you” gestures a daily event.

Health and wellbeing programs with a focus on mental health issues appeared as the real priority for employees to be happy at work.

This finding was vindicated by the offering at The Goring Hotel. They had an integrated health and wellbeing program – including mental health. Their 180 staff saw such an offering as part of the culture within the business. There was a high retention rate of staff, and their length of service was the envy of most organisations. In addition, there was a low sickness and absenteeism level. 92% of the staff at The Goring Hotel were proud to be working there.

Interestingly, the Aussie workplace data we have supports this situation. We have obtained feedback over many years showing 99% of those employees surveyed supported their employers offering an integrated health, wellbeing and performance in the workplace.

We too offered a focus on mental health (Head Health) in our program. Nearly 65% of the data base surveyed indicated that they were happier at work and their overall health and wellbeing was better because of our program.

At a local level, Office Solutions IT work hard to keep employees happy and engaged. James Sutherland, Founding Director, indicated that it was part of the emerging culture of the growing business to have a variety of activities on offer to staff. These activities can be physically discreet events but complement the “team approach” we apply when working with our clients.

If you would like to share your happiness at work story then please do.