With the average person spending a third of their adult lives at work, it is clear that having happiness at work is important. Finding joy in the 9-5 is crucial to attracting talent, retaining your team, and – most importantly – ensuring that your people *want* to do well. However, with only 17% of British workers claiming to love their job, it seems that there is collectively a lot of ground to make up to turn employees’ frowns upside down.
So, what does ‘happiness at work’ actually mean and what does it look like in practice? Is it a slide in the office à la Google? Inspirational quotes plastered along the wall? Or chilled prosecco in the fridge ready to pop at four o’clock?
Our Director of People and Culture – and Head of Happiness – Hattie D’Souza, thinks happiness at work runs much deeper than any of these. To mark the close of International Happiness at Work Week, – and the week that EV. turned 10! – she explores the practices, policies and procedures that she believes make EV. a happy place to be:
“I’d like to think that every manager worth their salary is always trying to improve their team’s happiness at work. It goes with the territory… right? After all, how can you lead a group of people who desperately don’t want to be there to achieve great things together?
However, the more I speak to friends and industry peers about their workplaces, the more surprised I am that they feel that their joy either isn’t considered by their employer, and – even wilder to me – isn’t an important factor in how they choose a place to work.
At EAST VILLAGE., I’m hopeful that my teammates feel happy at work: not just because it’s part of my job role; but because the thought of someone dreading coming to work or sat at their laptops unhappy does make me genuinely sad.
But when happiness is something so personal – and so different between us – how can a team of individuals achieve it together? For us, it’s about ensuring that #TeamEV. feels heard, supported, and celebrated. Equally important, it’s in how everyone is both challenged and trusted to take ownership of their own work, but given the security to fail and build back stronger.
Then again, as Director of People and Culture at EV., you’d expect me to say that. However, fresh from our latest TeamEV Survey – an anonymous questionnaire we’ve created on OfficeVibe that everyone in the team fills out – it seems it’s not just me that thinks we’re doing something right…
100% of #TeamEV either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that they felt valued by both clients and their teammates at EAST VILLAGE., can see a future for themselves at EAST VILLAGE., and would recommend working at EAST VILLAGE. to a friend. For me, you really can’t ask for more from a dream-team.
So, how did we get here? We listened and, even more importantly, we actioned. Here’s what #TeamEV told us made them happiest at work:
“Transparency around job roles and job progression”
At EV., we’re really passionate about making sure that everyone knows what part they play in the bigger EAST VILLAGE. picture, and what their teammates are working hard to achieve too. While we are a small (but mighty) team, we have mapped out our team growth ambitions to chart what we’ll look like when we’re a team of 20 – with job descriptions for each level available for everyone in that team.
Why have we done this and why does it matter? Well, if the adage rings true that “you can’t be what you can’t see”, then how can we expect our team to visualise themselves at EV. beyond just today, or tomorrow, if they don’t know what that actually looks like? We want everyone to understand that EV. can grow *with* them and as they develop, learn, and progress, EV. does too.
Plus, this helps our team understand that progression isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach and ‘the career ladder’ doesn’t just have to point straight up. While that works for some, for others being able to side-step from the client-facing side into roles in the new business team or the brand team, have meant we’ve retained talent for longer, and helped them develop new skills along the way.
“Perks that I actually want!”
I’ve lost count of the number of times people have said to me, “Your job just looks like one big party! You’re always out and drinking champagne”; reader, they’re not wrong… But – and it’s a big but – while life at EV. has never been short of fun, there are days when it’s long hours, hard graft, and lots (and lots and lots and lots) of coffee.
Of course, we aren’t alone in that, and the PR industry as a whole does struggle: PR Week reported that an eye-watering 90% of PR professionals experience poor mental health, which isn’t filling anyone with joy. While I can’t take away the realities of a job in a PR agency – KPIs, events in the evenings and weekends, journalists who are *sometimes* less than polite… – we can try to make life easier.
That’s why at EV., our perks are focused on ensuring that the team is happy and healthy above all else. From 42 days annual leave (yep, that 14 more than the UK statutory), early finish Fridays (which win the team back an extra 14 days across the year!!), flexible hours and hybrid working – we really are trying to ensure that the team has time to recoup.
Added to this, everyone has access to a SimplyHealth, subscription, with 24/7 access to GP appointments and subsidised medical care including visits to dentists, opticians, physios, and other specialists. What’s more, there is completely free and confidential access to an advice and counselling helpline if they do need support.
Added to that, we also give our team an extra financial boost each month through Juno, the all-in-one employee benefits platform. Each team member is given ’40 points’ to put towards whatever they fancy: whether that’s discounted products on the Juno marketplace, like vitamins, work-out gear, or skincare; their own shopping, using Juno’s virtual debit card; or the expenses function, which means they can reimburse themselves for groceries, train-travel, gym memberships, childcare (or doggy day-care…) costs – anything that helps them breathe a little easier each month.
“The ability to be open and honest”
Honesty is always the best policy in our book, but we also know that empowering people to feel psychologically safe enough to share their thoughts and opinions can be hard.
At EV., we try to combat that by ensuring there are ample ways for people to feedback their feelings. From the aforementioned TeamEV Survey – which includes my favourite question: “What would you do if you were the boss for the day?” and has been the catalyst for countless bright ideas – to group discussions and PowerHours on our in-person days, where people are called into conversations, rather than called out.
Having a team that feels comfortable to share starts by building trust, and showing – rather than telling – each other that their ideas are valid. You can’t fake honesty.
“Respecting that it’s okay to not feel okay all of the time”
And last, but by no means least, is understanding that happiness isn’t constant and giving each other the space to be able to feel their feelings.
For all of us, work is just one part of life, and – let’s be honest – it is hard out there… We’ve weathered a global pandemic that turned our ‘normal’ upside down, the cost of living crisis shows no signs of letting up, and the headlines seem to be ceaselessly bleak. It’s understandable why people might be finding it tough to find the silver lining on a cloud that seems to be getting bigger by the day.
For us, it’s about having each other’s backs, and knowing that when one person can’t give 100%, the rest of us are there to make up for it until they’re back on top again. It’s the number one company value.: “We put people first. Always.” It’s what makes me incredibly proud to come to work each day and be part of #TeamEV. I wouldn’t have it any other way.