happy Blogs

Outlook: What is the Focused Inbox?

And why is it hiding your emails? Microsoft Outlook is hiding messages from you – and here’s how to find them.

Five Top Tips to be a Great IT Trainer

Last week I had the pleasure of being a practice learner for our 4 day TPMA Certification Essentials course. The delegates taking the course had been working on their skills all week, learning to become effective IT trainers. They did really well, but it was a real eye-opener for me at how hard being an IT trainer really is.

Want to Make a Fortune? Invest in Happy Workplaces

There is hard financial evidence that happy workplaces perform better.

9 Great Companies That Practice Collaborative Hiring

On BBC2, “Who’s the Boss?” has highlighted the benefit of involving a wide range of staff involved in deciding who to employ. I was lucky enough to be a consultant on the programme. The process gets away from individual bias, the potential recruits get a much better sense of the business and people feel really involved in the decision.

7 Reasons Why Collaborative Hiring Makes Sense

This week BBC2 will broadcast “Who’s the Boss,” the first of three programmes exploring how companies could transform their recruitment with Collaborative Hiring. It goes out this Tuesday at 9pm, and the two following Tuesdays.

Radical Innovation In a Key Part of UK Government

Members of GCHQ discussed how they are bringing innovation into the department using a new crowdfunding-style system.

Brendan O’Keefe, Epic CIC – Advice For Re-Motivating Staff

Brendan was the last speaker of the day, and is Managing Director of Epic CIC. On 1st January 2014, Epic moved away from Royal Borough of Kensington’s Youth Support and Development Service, becoming the UK’s first youth service employee-led mutual. Brendan and his team worked with Happy to create an exciting and happy workplace. Brendan discussed the challenges involved in this new way of working – including giving staff pre-approval to make decisions, removing triangulation from the workplace, and recruiting for attitude.

Dom Monkhouse, iomart – Lessons From the Private Sector

Dom Monkhouse is CEO of iomart, and talked about several books that he had learnt from and how he’d used their ideas. His recommended reading included ‘Work Rules’ by Laszlo Bock, which stresses the importance of recruitment. He also discussed the way he recruits – rather than focusing on qualifications and experience, his common interview technique is to ask candidates to draw a picture of what motivates them, as it gives an interesting insight into who they are! He recruits for attitude, as you can train for skill – which is also one of the 10 core principles of Henry Stewart’s in the Happy Manifesto.

What Does ‘Digitisation’ Really Mean For an Organisation?

Dr Sally Howes is the Executive Leader responsible for innovation at the National Audit Office.

Henry Stewart, 5 Things You Can Do to Give Better Customer Service

Henry Stewart of Happy Ltd lists 5 ways you can improve customer service in this short video from the 2016 Transforming the Public Sector Conference.