Our Happy Place: wellbeing at work
What makes a happy team?
At one of our BareAll events, Vanessa King from Action for Happiness took us through an exercise in positivity, asking us to recall a time we were happiest at work. The results were unanimous – people were happier when they felt connected, appreciated and free to initiate ideas. In short, people feel good about being at work when treated like human beings. Not to mention happier employees are more productive – win-winning.
Happiness and wellbeing is central to the Giant Peach approach. It features heavily in our family values – we even measure our success on it. We consider ourselves better, sharper and smarter because of our dedication to happiness.
How we ‘do’ happy.
We’re in the business of creativity so it makes sense to foster an environment of freedom and appreciation. We do everything we can to encourage our team to feel respected and comfortable, but we’re not forcing smiles or employing creepy corporate-esque ‘Happiness Officers’ (yikes). It’s a more natural process, a human approach, based on open communication and feedback. We listen and we discuss. Here’s what we’ve done so far:
Environment
An environment conducive to creativity is one of freedom and space. We’ve got a pool table for exorcising those creativity demons; a comfy space for downtime; whiteboard walls for getting it all out; essential oils diffusing all day; the latest tech to make life easier; Herman Miller chairs for happy bottoms; yoga and massage for happy backs – all in our converted barn in the country. Yep, should you wish to find yourself in nature, that’s a thing you can do during the working day. And breathe.
Flexin’
Recognising difference is crucial to a stress-free workplace. We come at this fact in a number of ways:
- Individual learning and working styles are respected and honoured in terms of time management and workload management. Our lovely leaders take the time to understand what works for each member of the team.
- Staying agile to accommodate new ways of doing things and varied working practices is key. Our peaches are free to work around the core hours and manage themselves like actual grownups, imagine.
- We keep communication open and have continual touch points and workload chats so no one feels like they’re going under or lost at sea.
Harnessing the whole workforce is an obvious win for the economy but so often companies don’t get that making it easier for families is more profitable for everyone. Flexible working is a hot topic in the UK right now and something we’re super keen on. The family is integral to Giant Peach values and we do whatever it takes to mobilise and retain our talent and make fulfilling potential easy. We finish early on a Friday to make the most of the weekends and we have birthdays off as standard.
Peachy people
Ah Peaches, the people making it happen day in, day out. Gosh, we love them so. Peaches are picked based on their perfect fit into our family values and ethos. Are you energetic, up for it, obsessive about digital, dedicated to the clients you love, hungry for more? (If you’re answering yes to any of these you might wanna give us a shout).
Being a tight team with a seamless process means we try to hang out as much as possible, learn each other’s quirks and idiosyncrasies and get to know the best ways of communicating with each other. We bring lunch for each other every #FoodieFriday, make time to socialise together and have our Peach of the Month vote, where we show love for important things like supporting each other, generally being rad or making an excellent cuppa.
Development
Bringing your A-Game is always going to be top of the criteria for happiness. So we make it a priority to ensure Peaches feel they’re getting the most out of life by stretching, pushing and growing their skills and talents. Courses, events, training, mentoring – whatever makes a Peach feel more confident and less stressed, we sort it (plus having a team of cutting-edge pros is pretty handy for our clients too).
Making people happy, sure, it’s not rocket science but it’s fundamental to the success of your vision. It doesn’t take much, just a little consideration. If you’re not sure how to get started we’re here to help, drop us a line to chat about how living your values gets the most out of your team and business.