International Week of Happiness of Work (23rd — 27th September) is an annual event that celebrates and champions a healthy work culture. Research suggests that in today’s technological, fast-paced world, 27% of employees have one or more bad workdays per week (IWOF). Therefore, the importance of shining a light on mental wellbeing at work and the influence it has on our lives as a whole is essential.
At OCOCO, we believe that a happy team is a successful one, and we’re proud to have created a vibrant, spirited environment that allows everyone to thrive, both professionally and personally. Here’s some inspiration for celebrating International Week of Happiness at Work on- and offline, all whilst spreading lots of positivity across your whole team...
Promoting Happiness Online:
Celebrate your staff
Proudly showing off your team on social media is a way to give thanks to your staff and make them feel valued. You could use this as an opportunity to recognise individual and team achievements, both inside and outside of work. Alternatively, you could run a series that shares individual team members' favourite things to do, e.g their favourite food/music/part of their job.
Team time
Organise team activities and share the experience on social media with images and videos. Spending time with your colleagues beyond the confines of your everyday work setting is not only a fun way to take a break from demanding projects and increase mental wellbeing, but it is also a great opportunity to strengthen connections between colleagues.
Everyone loves a throwback
Create a 'Happiness at Work' series on social media, encouraging staff to participate and share photos of their favourite moments at work from over the years with their colleagues. Accompany each post with a custom hashtag for maximum impact.
Fact: cute animals always bring joy
If you take a look at us on Instagram, you’ll see we’ve shared lots of photos of our favourite Pomsky Luna. These posts always get great engagement and are a testament to how everyone loves looking at adorable furry friends. For a quick happiness boost, ask your staff for photos of their animals to share on your business' socials in a 'The Pets of [Business Name]' series.
Promoting Happiness Offline:
Join the club
This one edges into the previous category too as you can also share details about your club on social media! At OCOCO, we have our very own OCOCO Media Club, in which we share and compare our favourite books, movies and tv shows. We often put this together in a blog (see here) or we’ll simply have discussions in our office. It’s a really fun way to work on something different as a team, no matter how much we debate on certain topics. For example, the best movie in the world.
Get talking
Hold a discussion about what ‘Happiness at Work’ means to your team and what you all can do to help increase mental wellbeing. From exploring ways to manage stress and prevent burnout to taking suggestions for ways to improve the workplace, these discussions will help prevent or reduce potential issues in the future. You could hold these discussions in-house or work with organisations that specialise in supporting employee health and wellbeing.
Say no to clutter
A tidy workspace is less likely to exasperate mental health issues and can improve productivity overall. Unnecessary paperwork and clutter can be distracting and will decrease productivity if your team have to waste valuable time working around it. So, keep your work space clean, bright and tidy!
Regularly review goals and achievements
When dealing with demanding workloads, we can often forget to reflect on what we’ve achieved. No matter how small a task may be, the feeling of ticking an item off a checklist is always rewarding. Take a moment to review your progress and be proud of your achievements so far. In doing so, you'll increase your motivation to complete the next task.
We hope we've inspired you to infuse your workplace with positivity, happiness and lots of smiles! For more information about The Week of Happiness at Work initiative and useful resources to promote mental wellbeing, here’s some useful links…
International Week at Work - https://internationalweekofhappinessatwork.com/
Mental Health Foundation - https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/how-support-mental-health-work
Maximus - https://atw.maximusuk.co.uk/
Comments