Member Article

Research finds regular virtual work socials increase happiness for employees working from home

Leeds digital marketing agency, Enjoy Digital, has worked out the formula for happiness while looking into the wellbeing of its team members who are working from home.

Love them or loathe them, the “work social” has come out as a key contributor for increased happiness while working from home. Although work socials are harder to organise during lockdown, virtual get-togethers are having a big impact on team morale.

In a recent survey, only 42% of people who are working from home said that their employer is organising regular, virtual get-togethers. These individuals score their happiness higher than that of respondents who said work socials are organised infrequently or never.

Chris Jackson, Managing Director at Enjoy Digital, said “The process started as an internal survey; we wanted to learn about each team members’ situation so we could better appreciate everyone’s individual circumstances. But after looking at the results, there seemed to be key factors that contributed to our colleagues scoring themselves as happier, so we were interested to see if this applied to people outside of our team.”

The team at Enjoy Digital designed and issued a national survey to members of the public across a broad spectrum, which asked questions about their personal circumstances while working from home including their living situation, whether they own pets and how regularly they communicate with friends, family and work colleagues.

Respondents with the highest happiness scores have access to a garden, work in a separate room, regularly attend work socials, own multiple pets and exercise regularly; suggesting there is a formula for happiness.

The survey also revealed that the 52% of people who work in a separate room are happier than those who work in communal areas, on a sofa, or bed.

Chris said, “We place a big emphasis on peoples wellbeing and its clear from the results that the social aspect of work is an important contributor to this. Knowing that colleagues feel happier when they have regular work socials, and a similar routine to what they would have in the office, reassured us that we’re helping our team cope while working from home.

“A key part of the results show us that respondents living with children scored themselves highly for happiness. Although there are added pressures for colleagues with children at home, these results should encourage employers to introduce or improve flexible working policies.

“Morale is important for productivity, so putting our team’s happiness first will mean they’re able to deliver their best work.”

The team at Enjoy Digital host weekly social activities including an all-staff update and drinks, a pub quiz and yoga or personal training sessions.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Georgie Smith .