International Happiness at Work Week

Everyone spends a huge part of their lives at work, which has a significant impact on the rest of our lives. This is why we need to pay more attention to happiness at work to be able to make a difference. At Nurseplus, we always want to go above and beyond for our carers and office staff, which is why we are supporting such an important cause as happiness is all we ever want for the people that have helped make our business the way it is. This theme needs to be put on the map for as many companies as possible, both domestically and internationally, to ensure that work happiness grows for organisations and individuals.

Why We Should Encourage Happiness at Work

It is incredibly important that we encourage happiness at work. There are records of 27% of employees have one or more bad days at work every week, which is far too high considering we spend half of our lives working. We at least need an enjoyable work environment to boost the general morale of employees as, if individuals have horrible days at work, this can also affect their lives outside of work. Research has shown that happy employees are healthier, more engaged, work better as a team, and are a lot more productive, and this is exactly what you need for your business to grow and sky rocket, so it would be insane not to do anything about, it wouldn’t it?

Here at Nurseplus, we want every single one of our staff members to be positive and happy to come into work and see everyone in their team! We hope that we have created an environment where all of our workers to come into work smiling at co-workers which hopefully put a smile on their face, some have lunch and coffee mornings together to get talking and laughing and also making sure they are taking their time to check in on each other and if they’re not doing the best - letting them know they are here if they want to talk and will do everything to take their mind off of the problem throughout the day. Some of our branches have even brought in cakes and sweet treats to help boost our office staff morale, because if they’re not in the best of moods, it may rub off on the clients which will make nobody happy!

The Impact Of Happiness at Work

It can be incredibly hard for some to detach themselves from an unhappy work place and not allow it to impact their personal life, which is why Happiness at Work Week has proved to have a very positive impact on people’s mental health. This is simply because if people are happy at work, then they become better colleagues, better parents, better friends, better community members etc. This helps to ensure people aren’t weighed down by all their troubles at work and constantly thinking about what work will be like tomorrow, if they even want to go in or not, or what troubles they may come in to, they can purely focus on them and their family, going out with friends and family and having a good time or just having their own personal time to relax. Those that are happy at work are less prone to mental health problems, suffering less stress, depression and anxiety, allowing them to have good psychological, physiological and social wellbeing.

Working in the care industry in particular can provide an extremely happy place to work, offering many unique rewards including benefits such as flexible working hours, allowing you to have a good work/life balance. Carers also often form strong teams as well as forming a wonderful relationship with clients you care for. In addition to this, you also get to learn new things about the clients you care for every day making you more knowledgeable and allows you to be more resourceful. Seeing the impact you can make when helping others is also extremely rewarding in itself. You have the opportunity to help improve the lives of those in need and making a positive contribution in somebody’s life. These contributions from carers can actually elongate an individual’s life just by keeping them company and being someone they can talk to. Imagine that, being able to help a person live longer simply because you were happy and kind hearted to them! Nurseplus carers are able to receive all of these rewards and provide the highest quality care because we always ensure that our branches create a happy working environment.

Although there are many rewards to working in care, as every other job, it can come with challenges, which is why it is so important to keep carers morale up. Nurseplus helps carers in any way to make sure they are enjoying their job and happy in their environment as much as possible, this is by ensuring they are all okay and up to date with their shifts and if they are comfortable with who they are going to go a take care of, we do not want our staff to feel under pressure to go to a clients house that they are not comfortable with or are worrying about. We also like to do general check ups on our carers just to make sure they made it to their shifts and everything Is running as smoothly as possible for them.

Working in Care: An Excellent Second Job

A lot of our Nurseplus carers have another job in addition to working in care for a bit of extra income and to make a difference in somebody’s life, so we always ask them when they sign up to work as a carer if they have a second job to ensure we know how many hours max are they willing to work and is there any days they cannot do altogether. It is important to know this information so they know they will not have the extra stress of us asking them to do a shift on a day or time they are working their other job. We also want to give them hours to make it possible for them to still have a very healthy work-life balance as they still need a break from working just like everyone else. The impact of these decisions can be seen in various reviews from our carers about what a positive impact Nurseplus has had on their well-being at work and how we have helped them:

“I have worked with Nurseplus Homecare for around 3 years and have loved every minute! Office staff are lovely, and are always do their best to fit in with staff availability and are always there to give a supportive ear to team members. In short, office staff, carers and clients are all lovely and I see myself working with them for a long time to come.”

“I work with Nurseplus Colchester alongside my permanent role with the NHS. Office staff, clients and case managers are all really lovely and the level of care shown is outstanding. I am now on maternity leave and cannot wait to return to this great team. I wouldn't dream of going to any other agency.”

“I have worked for Nurseplus since November 2020. I love working for them they are brilliant from the Manager to the office staff. The clients are lovely and we care for them like we would a family member and want the best for them. We are passionate about the care we provide our clients and this is endorsed by Nurse Plus. We are always supported by the Manager and office staff, easily accessible to contact or go and see them. Our pay is weekly and paid every Friday. I have regular weekly shifts which is what I wanted. If it’s possible they always try and accommodate both clients and staff needs. All-round a great company to work for.”

We hope this article has highlighted the importance of weeks such as Happiness at Work Week. Nurseplus will be continuing to join in with this important cause every year as we believe it is going to create a very impactful difference on staff morale. It will help the business run smoothly with all our carers and office staff having positive mindsets, and these mindsets will also then benefit our clients, which will make them feel happier having positive and kind-hearted carers taking care of them. We encourage all companies to contribute to Happiness at Work Week after the positive feedback we’ve witnessed, it helps your workers become mentally healthier and also ensures your business is being represented in a good light as the public can see how well looked after you staff is and will give you more clients and workers.