EMPOWER YOUR WORKFORCE

EXPERTS IN WORKPLACE ENGAGEMENT AND HAPPINESS

Our workplace engagement and happiness programmes will improve workplace mood, develop employee motivation and increase satisfaction. They build stronger communications and relationships in the workplace. And they are fun!

ENGAGED AND HAPPY ORGANISATIONS WORK

Engaged and happy people are an asset in the workplace

Any progressive workplace that values productivity and loyalty should take engagement and happiness seriously. Thankfully, while both these factors were once seen as fringe interests in a commercial world driven by the pursuit of results at any cost, today they are recognised as intrinsic elements to success.

Build a long-term engagement strategy

Engagement and happiness should be a long-term strategy and the achievement of them should be a primary goal which aligns to the vision and mission statement that an organisation lives by.

They cannot be achieved through one-off workshops or through ad hoc random initiatives. Free pizza Friday is great, but what happens when the free pizza runs out? If it’s back to miserable Monday and business as usual, your engagement and happiness levels will never improve.

Taking a scientific approach to happiness

Happiness also doesn’t mean being happy all the time, which is impossible. We recognise that emotions such as stress, anxiety and frustration are natural and impact on the way people work.

We approach happiness from a scientific perspective. We understand that realistic happiness is as much about an individual’s capacity to cope with difficulties and overcome challenges than it is about developing feelgood initiatives.

THE LAUGHOLOGY HAPPINESS REVOLUTION

Laughology has been at the forefront of the happiness revolution. We are arguably the country’s most experienced, informed and successful learning and development organisations when it comes to delivering programmes that embed a culture of engagement and happiness in workplaces.

A CIPD recognised wellbeing and happiness workplace strategy.

We use current research along with our unique CIPD-recognised Laughology Happiness Model to build robust programmes delivered in fun, engaging ways.

Relationship with managers and leaders

We work with people at every level in an organisation because happy, engaged teams and workplaces are created from the bottom up and the top down. Relationships play a key role in engagement and happiness in any organisation, particularly the relationships people have with their managers and leaders.

Vision & Culture

Vision and culture are also key elements to an engaged, happy workforce. Words are nothing without actions and organisations should put strategies in place to ensure the vision is shared and lived, otherwise it becomes an empty promise and people will become disengaged and unhappy. We help you put all these measures in the place.

We use our expertise and unique delivery style to:

build a strong vision and narrative
improve relationships
increase satisaction
develop self-motivated individuals
close the gap between what your organisation says and what it does

Stephanie Davies

Laughology CEO

THE UNIQUE LAUGHOLOGY HAPPINESS MODEL

Our bespoke programmes start by identifying the underlying factors that make your people happy, unhappy, engaged and disengaged.

Money and workplace happiness

Studies show that salaries and financial perks are not the main drivers of workplace happiness. Instead development and progression, workplace relationships and challenges are just as important.Instead development and progression, workplace relationships and challenges are just as important.

Five happiness themes

The Laughology Happiness Model was developed using our own field research and existing academic theory, including work carried out by Martin Seligman and Andrew Oswald. It identifies the five themes that are key to happiness, which are confidence, personal development, positive relationships, support and coping skills.

Happiness tools

Using our unique Happiness Model and the associated tools we have developed to accompany it, we analyse organisations to identify areas where positive changes can be made and then build a flexible programme of content, delivery and training to address each area and embed happiness and engagement.

Happiness grid and matrix

The Happiness Model includes a grid and matrix which we use to identify which skill sets an organisation should enhance to develop better happiness and engagement levels across the board. Once we have assessed an organisation, we can identify appropriate actions and measures to take, and deliver these through a range of methods.

WORKPLACE WELLBEING & HAPPINESS GRID

The Laughology Happiness Grid identifies which skill sets an organisation should enhance to develop better happiness and engagement levels

Confidence

Personal Development

Examples of initiatives

Personal development plans across the organisation
Career development opportunities, internal and external
Idea sharing and generation mixing across levels
Sharing mistakes for learning
A culture of positive risk taking through sharing stories of having a go and not quote getting there yet!

Evidence of success

Improved people satisfaction/ happiness scores
People have confidence to make their own decisions
Engaged people
Easy decision-making process
People empowered to take risks
Mistakes are shared and learned from
Innovation across the workforce

Examples of initiatives

A culture of informal and formal chats that help people to develop
Reward and recognition programmes
Sabbaticals

Evidence of success

Opportunities seized by people
Promotions across organisation
Rewards gained and celebrated
Diverse skillset in people

Support

Positive relationships

Examples of initiatives

Coaching and mentoring
Counselling or access to CBT or other support services
Easy access to leadership team
Simple feedback processes
Outreach to community programmes and support services outside the organisation
Links to charities
Supporting charities with knowledge and expertise exchange

Evidence of success

Internally-trained coaches
Links to community programmes that have had successes for both sides
A well thought-of leadership and management team
A sense of purpose in your vision and strategy that connects a story to the greater good.

Examples of initiatives

People-focused manager and leadership programmes
Positive communication across departments
Leaders take part in everyday activities and are open and accessible
Team build events
Awaydays
360 mentoring and feedback
Collaboration schemes
Links to the community beyond the workplace
Unconscious bias programmes
Opportunities weekly to chat to managers/ leaders – huddles or similar

Evidence of success

Open and easy dialogue at all levels
People help each other
Team event feedback and improvement activities
A diverse range and mix of people
Positive talk about exec and leadership teams

Coping Skills

Examples of initiatives

Mental health first aid awareness programme or similar
Menopause awareness or similar
Wellbeing workshops
Leaders and managers that really care
Unconscious bias programmes and a culture of diversity

Evidence of success

Positive engagement
Low rate of absenteeism
Good rates of staff retention

Original and innovative approaches to workplace engagement and happiness

Developing links outside your sector that allow people to develop skills.
Creating community connections to NGOs and using skills to share best practice.
Putting on charitable events where people can raise money by getting out their comfort zone; e.g stand–up comedy event, Strictly event or similar
Inviting new team members to attend board meetings where they can ask questions and challenge.
Sharing leadership team mistakes in a positive way and discussing how to learn from them. Creating Vlogs on a collaborate space to share these.

Peer-to-peer support programmes across all levels
Mentoring across all levels, both up and down
Virtual huddles and fuddles (fun huddles) once a week
Worker of the Week awards for fun things and kind acts
Random acts of Kindness Day

Leaders knowing names and using creative ways to recognise and reward
Encourage lunch breaks away from desks and have ways to do this
Encourage face-to-face communication through switch-off times
Holiday time is seen as strictly holiday time
Working with suppliers means caring about how they are paid

Working with a variety of suppliers from small businesses and individuals
Creative recruitment drives to encourage diversity in recruitment process
Having talking groups for LGBT and celebrating individuals
Leaders standing up and talking about their experiences of mental illness and other important vulnerabilities and diversitie

CIPD DOWNLOADS

To help you develop a workplace engagement strategy we are sharing our happiness models and approach to long term engagement. These models are recognised as effective tools in the CIPD Workplace well-being strategy, one-day course.

Download the Laughology happiness and engagement programme and the unique Laughology happiness grid.

Download PDF

Happiness programme introduction

Download Happiness Grid

Happiness grid