Earlier this month I attended the Alliance of Independent Agencies’ Festival of Happiness, a day dedicated to exploring the role culture and wellbeing has within a business. Taking place at Google’s Kings Cross HQ, this year’s theme was focussed on leadership – that to achieve as a high performing agency, leaders must pay attention to the wellbeing and happiness of their people.

 So, what impact does wellbeing have on businesses?

Well, it’s more than you may think. According to research, poor mental health costs businesses a whopping £51 billion a year[i]. Not just through lower productivity in the workplace – 51% of UK employees say their mental health affects productivity – but in absences too. On average £705 per year per employee is lost to mental health – that’s 4.8 days.

Poor mental health is also the most common cause of long-term sickness absence and is in the top three for short term absence[ii]. Mental health is affecting retention too, of the 11% of people who left their job in the last 12 months and 16% planning to leave within a year, 59% cited mental health as the main reason[iii].

The Happiness Index

Myself and fellow Mental Health First Aider, Abi Fraser, emersed ourselves in a day of talks, workshops and podcasts. To kick off, Matt Phelan, founder of the Happiness Index shared a fascinating presentation on the role of data when it comes to measuring employee happiness and wellbeing. Matt looked at the significance of businesses benchmarking and measuring month by month to see how their culture is shaping up. He highlighted the importance of stepping away from the old school thinking of employee engagement, and those alpha ‘office performers’ only being rewarded for contribution.

Instead, the Happiness Index focusses on purpose and delves far deeper than engagement, exploring emotional data to understand how employees are really feeling. The fact is how we feel is very different to how we think, and in a separate presentation by Clive Hyland – Head of Neuroscience at the Happiness Index + Founding Partner – we learned about the science of happiness.

You’ve heard the saying go with your gut, and Clive explained we are led by our gut and our heart – they send more signals to our brain than the other way round. In fact, according to the Happiness Index our working relationships, how safe and connected we feel with colleagues, has a huge impact on whether we stay in a business. Less than four in ten people will consider leaving a job if they have a workplace bestie, those who don’t are 23% more likely to leave.

Culture isn’t Fluffy, It’s Commercial

After coffee, Abi and I settled down for Elaine Jobson. Founder of Jetts Australia, Elaine has 30 years’ experience of leading high-performance teams in the fitness industry – working alongside Fitness First founder, Mike Balfour and Richard Branson for Virgin Active. Elaine shared her personal experiences of working alongside the leisure industry’s leaders and insights on what it takes to build a positive culture.

She first explained how businesses who sit within the ‘100 Best Companies’ typically perform 4x better when it comes to stock performance, so it’s unsurprising that 91% of senior leaders say culture is as important as business strategy.

Elaine explained that culture is a lot of different things, it’s the vibe, energy and experience businesses give employees NOT the brand. How safe employees feel and whether they feel they truly belong, all have an impact and though challenging, companies really need to measure their culture.

During the session, Elaine spoke about the essential role all leaders have within companies when it comes to setting values and behaviours. How a leader’s actions can support – or undermine – the culture a business is striving to build, and what we do or choose not to do, all have a significant impact on employee experience.

Following the talk and a delicious lunch, (thank you Google), Abi and I spent an afternoon listening to panel discussions and podcasts which reinforced the fundamentals for happiness at work:

  • Treat others as you want to be treated, be nice
  • Encourage openness to talk about work challenges or whatever is going on
  • Meet people’s emotional needs
  • Make it okay to be vulnerable and create a safe space

We finished the day with Elaine’s’ High Performance Through Happy People’ workshop. The group was encouraged to hold up a mirror and look at whether what we were doing is productive to our culture, reflects our company values and to think about what is within our control to change.

Importantly, though culture starts with leaders and flows down, we also learnt about employee accountability and the role everyone has to play to maintain it. Whatever your business, your values need to be supported and it is essential that these values are shared not only when onboarding but regularly with employees, to remind them and encourage them to become culture ‘Ninjas’ within your business.

So, after a packed and informative day, what is my key take out for anyone looking to improve their own culture and wellbeing?

It’s not a sprint, culture is a little bit like a marathon. You need to understand where you’re starting from, how people are feeling and where the gaps are in your culture. After that you’re going to need put a training plan in place to work towards your goals and regularly check-in to see how you and your business are improving. Crucially you need support from your business, you cannot do it alone. Finally remember it won’t happen overnight, but with steady consistency you can make happiness a superpower within your business.

[i] ACAS – Mental Health & Stress in the Workplace – October 2024

[ii] CIPD 2023

[iii] Deloitte May 2024