It’s time to celebrate International Week of Happiness at Work

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It’s time to celebrate International Week of Happiness at Work

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A company’s best brand ambassadors is its employees. We speak to IWG employees Neilla, Cindy and Mustafa about working for the company and what a great day at work means for them

 

From 23rd to 29th September, International Week of Happiness at Work is celebrated in workspaces around the globe. A Dutch initiative created by the founders of Happy Office, it works to help companies reflect on how they could improve their work environment and increase employee happiness.

It’s widely known that a company’s best brand ambassadors are its employees, and with that in mind Cindy Koller, Neilla Briens and Mustafa Hameed, who all work for Regus’ parent company International Workplace Group (IWG), reveal what makes them happy at work.

Cindy Koller is an account manager at IWG’s EMEA hub in Barcelona. "I’m French but I lived in Dublin for four years, which I absolutely loved… but I wanted some sun, so I moved to Barcelona," says Koller, who deals with inbound and outbound sales for the French markets.

Cindy Koller, account manager at IWG's EMEA hub in Barcelona

"To me, happiness at work means having flexibility, working with great people who I can have a laugh with and having a good working atmosphere. It’s all about having a good work-life balance," she thinks. "A great day at work for me would be laughing with my colleagues, reaching my daily targets, getting deals and then enjoying the sun after work. It’s the simple things that make a difference." 

Neilla Briens, a meeting room specialist, has been working for IWG for just over 18 months now. “I’m part of a small team of three within the sales department. We guide clients, book meeting rooms and facilitate special requests. I like it because it’s a mix of sales and customer service,” explains Briens.

Neilla Briens, meeting room specialist for IWG

“We work alongside the Middle East and Polish teams, so we’re a really diverse bunch, which I think is very exciting because we get a chance to discover different ways of thinking about the same thing. Every day we have a five-minute huddle meeting, it’s a good way to chat about what’s going on at work, what’s coming up, and I find it really motivating,” she says. “My favourite day is Thursday, as we all bring a breakfast item in and eat together. It’s a nice way to start the day and get to know each other more.”

Mustafa Hameed started as an agent in 2017 and is now a senior account helpdesk agent in the EMEA hub in Barcelona. “Since starting in the role, my analytical skills developed the most. I’m now able to look at dense text or numbers and quickly find a pattern,” he says.

Mustafa Hameed, senior account helpdesk agent in the EMEA hub in Barcelona

Having a positive environment in the workplace is largely about the people, he says. “We’re here at work eight hours a day, so it would be pretty painful if the people you work with were not awesome,” he grins. “A great day at work for me means having a great atmosphere at work. You’re always going to have challenges, even on your best day, so if everyone comes to work happy, it makes a real difference. On Fridays, we all get together and have a drink with the managers, including the operations director, which brings a human approach to everything. All the people here want to help each other, and that’s what makes people happy.”

Of course, flexible working is proving to be an increasingly important part of happiness at work. “These days, flexible working is often worth more than money,” says Hameed. “A salary can only buy you so much, and people appreciate time more than anything.”

It can save time, increase productivity and offers a better work-life balance – and as these three employees have shown, life’s just too short to be unhappy at work.

 

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