How The Plan Group are building a happy workplace
In this interview by the Telegraph, The Plan Group's Head of HR Susie Wilson shares how People First is driving employee engagement and workplace happiness.
The importance of workplace happiness and employee morale
On average, each of us will spend 90,000 hours at work across our lifetimes. What we do with that time – where it’s spent, who it’s with and the impact of the work we do – can have a huge impact on our happiness, both in and out of work.
New research from MIT finds that happiness at work is a key driving force in our decision to take, stay at, or leave a job. In fact, the survey found that the average UK worker would take a 10.6% pay cut to work for an employer with “above average” levels of happiness.
It’s clear that the expectations employees have of their workplace are shifting; while pay and benefits have always been significant factors in attracting and retaining talent, nowadays workplace happiness and employee experience are just as important. Prioritising employee morale and happiness can give organisations a competitive edge; those that don’t will only risk falling behind.
What are the business benefits of happiness at work?
One organisation that has adapted to these shifting expectations is The Plan Group, a family-owned insurance intermediary. Having worked there for 17 years, their Head of HR and Risk Susie Wilson has seen firsthand how workplace values have shifted in recent years and has played a key role in implementing strategies to address this. She notes that prioritising happiness benefits the business just as much as it benefits individual employees.
“Where you work has a massive impact on your whole life,” she says. “And if you've got a happy workforce, you’ll have less employee turnover, less time and money spent on recruitment, and a much more productive and engaged workforce that produces better-quality work.”
As part of her role as Head of HR, Susie is committed to fostering happiness within the company to engage and retain the best talent. She’s implemented various strategies to achieve this, but credits flexible working and continuous learning as the most impactful factors.
Improving employee engagement for a hybrid workforce
With over 100 employees spread across three different offices to keep happy, The Plan Group decided to implement a hybrid and flexible working model. Susie believes this has contributed to increased workplace happiness: “I think that definitely reduces stress – for example, I started later to let me do the school run, which is a massive help because childcare is so hard to find.”
She also points out that a hybrid model allows The Plan Group to widen its recruitment net and source the best talent, rather than being restricted to a catchment area. “People are willing to commute one or two days a week if they don’t live in the area – but they definitely wouldn’t if it was five days a week.”
To ensure that employees stay connected despite working from home and across three different offices, The Plan Group use our People First platform for employee engagement and internal communications.
Its social media-inspired design drives engagement and happiness across the workforce. Using People First’s newsfeed, employees can post updates or recognitions, boosting team morale and recognising colleagues for hard work. The fact that it can be accessed via the mobile app from anywhere, anytime, means that hybrid or remote employees still feel connected to what’s going on in the organisation.
Building a learning culture
The Plan Group’s learning culture is also a key contributor to workplace happiness. Continuous learning is encouraged throughout the organisation thanks to a dedicated in-house training team that provides employees with growth and upskilling opportunities.
As Susie puts it, “It's so important for employees to grow with the job, because roles don’t stay the same. I’ve been here 17 years, and my job has changed every couple of years. If I was still doing what I was doing when I started, I don’t think I’d be happy.”
Aligning work with purpose and values
The other increasingly talked-about factor of happiness at work is how we engage with our jobs through values, meaning and purpose. Three of The Plan Group’s directors – brothers Scott, Ryan and Grant – are keen cyclists and noticed that finding cycle insurance was difficult. “They had a passion for it, so they manufactured a policy for cycle insurance,” says Susie, “and now we’ve got two brands that do cycling insurance: Yellow Jersey and Pedal Cover.
By aligning work with passions and using People First to connect employees with similar interests or values, The Plan Group have fostered a happier, more productive workforce that’s engaged in the organisation.
“On there, you can add recognitions about employees, and also keep people updated about what other people in the company have been doing. You might see something on there that affects you or that you’re passionate about and then you can get involved or offer to support.”
Crucially, it comes down to connecting your employees to the organisation’s values. She believes that “if you’ve got people that are aligned with your values, then you’ll get people that are happier in their work.”
This is a shortened version of an article produced by and published on Telegraph.co.uk – read the full article here. Photography credit: Dan Wilton.
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