The 19^th – 25^th September marks the ‘International Week of Happiness at Work’. This week of recognition celebrates happiness in the workplace and raises awareness of making happiness at work a priority in over 50 countries worldwide.

At Anabas, we think everyone should be happy at work. Happy colleagues are more cheerful, healthy, sociable and successful. They are often more productive, flexible, resilient, creative and deliver a greater service with a good attitude towards others, and work better with colleagues. When people are happier at work, they tend to be happier in the rest of their life too.

In the UK, workers spend an average of 1,670 hours per year working. That’s a long time to not be happy. Happiness at work is not all about the latest state of the art offices, tech integration, or the free office fruit bowl and coffee machine, or even the annual bonus. It’s about purpose and people, culture and connections.

Colleagues need to feel embraced in a culture where they evoke a sense of belonging. They can see how their role plays into the wider workings of the company and they feel a sense of purpose and pride in what they deliver. Progression and empowerment are critical to engagement.

Providing a safe culture where people can be open and honest and take time for each other will go a long way. Valuing every colleague is critical for happiness and retention. If an employee doesn’t feel valued, engagement will dwindle. The Anabas reward and recognition scheme ensures we celebrate all successes, no matter how big or small. After all, the small details make a big difference…

Team lunches, Strava challenges, book clubs, football tournaments and our Anabas awards are just some of the ways our colleagues at Anabas connect. Work should be fun after all!

Through live webinar and face-to-face sessions, we also deliver positive psychology training in partnership with the Art of Being Brilliant, a not-for-profit training organisation and publishers of the book, ‘The Art of Being Brilliant’.

This training helps our people to be more positive, motivated, and become the best version of themselves. We have equipped each member of staff with the tools they need to personally feel their best every day, cultivating a positive, can-do attitude so they can thrive in their roles. Identifying the connection between feeling great, always seeking to improve and productivity, this training works towards our aims for optimising our service standards.

During this week of recognition, we challenge you to think about happiness in your organisation. How does it measure up? And what changes can you instigate to make your organisation a better place to be?