If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!

Did you know that today is the International Day of Happiness!

Here at Eagle HR we don’t need a day dedicated to happiness because we are generally quite a cheerful bunch anyway, but as employers what makes your staff happy?

Whilst it’s easy to focus on formal engagement strategies, reward mechanisms and employee surveys things don’t have to be so heavy. Here are some quick and cost effective ideas for when you just want to give your guys a boost:

• Get the competitive juices flowing – have a competition where the winner gets to finish a bit early on a Friday or get an extra hour in bed on a Monday morning, for example if there is a deadline looming and we need that final push. A bit of completion and a cheeky little incentive (that won’t break the bank) can really give your productivity a boost and create a bit of friendly banter!
• Lighten the mood – why not have a charity day where everyone wears their pyjamas or comes in dressed as a super hero, it will get people speaking to colleagues they may not have before, give everyone a bit of a giggle and earn money for a well-deserved cause. What’s not to like?!
• Celebrate good times – someone’s birthday? Engagement? Pregnancy announcement? Make a fuss, bring in a cake, hilariously dress the MD in a baby grow (ok, maybe he/she won’t actually go along with this but imagining it alone will give you a giggle).
• Have an office quiz – there is always something to learn, some compliance training to be conducted so why not turn some key learning deliverables into something a bit fun? GDPR is a hot topic at the moment…send your teams away to do a bit of research and then get them all competing for who has learned the most. This can generate some great conversations about how to tangibly implement new practices in your business.

We would LOVE to hear your ideas for what could make you happy this Tuesday or see some pics of what your teams are up to so please do tweet us @Eagle_HR and quote #InternationalDayOfHappiness

The Eagle team are experienced HR professionals who offer our clients with commercial and practical HR advice and support relating to a whole host of day-to-day employment matters.

Elaine Fisher is a Director and Senior HR and Pay Consultant at Eagle HR and a Partner (non-lawyer) at Harrison Clark Rickerbys – contact her on 01905 746446 or efisher@eaglehr.co.uk.