Creating importance on work being enjoyable

“Get to know your team members as people. When you take the time and make the effort to reveal your humanity, and to get to know others as more than a worker, you build trust. When you do that, it also has a wonderful leveling effect.” — Steve Coleman

A lot of people dread work, in fact, according to research from CV-Library over a third (35.2%) of the workers in the UK are suffering from mental health issues, with 4 in 10 (42.9%) admitting that their job is a key contributor to these feelings. The top causes of these feeling are from:

• Doubting their abilities: 34.6%
• Having a boring job: 26.6%
• Not getting on with their boss: 22.6%
• Working alone: 17.8%
• Working with customers/clients: 17%

A lot of this is quite concerning to see, and although you cannot change how other people act towards you there are ways to improve the working environment to help combat some of the issues an individual could be facing. By creating the space where there is no judgment on these kind of issues it will help in those with mental health issue opening up which allows members within the team to provide more support and guidance. Providing opportunities to help people feel as though they belong and they are valued are extremely important in a world of competition and negativity.

I [Sophie] have been working a part of the Webteam since September and felt instantly welcome within my first week. Now I’ve nearly been here a year I’ve expanded my role into many different aspects and although that does bring an increased element of stress it has also brought a whole lot of reward. I feel very lucky that I haven’t faced any issues in the workplace or get that feeling on a Sunday evening / Monday morning (I mean you will always get the odd annoying circumstance, but nothing that will stop me going into work). This is definitely down the team supporting each other’s progress within their specific areas.

In a recent conversation with the Managing Director of Digital Health she said that when she first start at THIS nearly 10 years ago one of the main things she remembers is how welcoming everyone was.

Although some days are harder than others and force you to deal with challenges you may have not expected, I can confidently say that I never dread coming into work. There are probably a lot of factors that contribute to this such as actually liking the role and the tasks my role entails, the variety of work I get to do and the people I meet..

One that does stand out to me is that fact that we as team prioritise team bonding. This team bonding places emphasis on a good team unit and a happy working environment. For myself, I have found that this has allowed me to get to know the individual members on a more personal level which means supporting each other inside and outside work as become the norm. I believe this has also made us all more available to each other as we don’t just see each other as work colleagues but more as friends which really bridges the gap between levels within the team. By understanding that we are all human and have backstories we know when maybe a member of the team needs more support than usual or when a tough time at work might need a more hands-on approach from everyone in the team.

While I’ve been working at THIS as a team we have been on numerous meals and nights out for birthdays and Christmas work do’s as well as doing big events such as the Gung-Ho 5k Obstacle Course. Events such as this also provide excellent topics for us to develop in house skills that we can then advertise as a product we can offer. In this instance, we took the camera with us and tired our adhoc camera work.

Although there are other factors that do play a role in not dreading coming into work feeling a part of the team, even when only a placement student, really has helped in that. I personally believe that these team bonding activities we have done through this year have had a real positive impact on the moral of the whole team which directly impacts the work we all do in a positive way.

Beckys response as team leader

For me, I always felt the reward of working in the NHS which plays a big part in my happiness. I don’t directly treat patients but when I go into a meeting to discuss how a website or system can be built in our team to improve working procedures for clinical staff I always feel a sense of pride that ultimately we are helping aid a patient’s journey, through the freeing of clinical staffs time and data accuracy. So this initially helps with team morale. If you enjoy what you do it’s not working anymore, it’s getting paid to play.

“Choose a job you LOVE, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” — Confucius

The work I do day in day out is varied due to the vast amount of products we deliver and the customers we support, so one day is never the same to the next. I chose to go into web development because I loved tinkering on my computer and the ability to be in a creative role design-wise is not something you routinely come across. What I noticed straight away from starting in my role as a student was how much I preferred being part of a smaller unit. My previous role as a cashier in a large DIY chain left me feeling quite lonely and the only goals we had were to sell more batteries and ensure the customer was happy. Here I had the room to make choices and lead the direction the team went. We became a family and other team members genuinely cared about my career development.

Even before I became team leader I knew that team outings were an important part of making you feel like you belonged. My first week in the job we went out for lunch and away from the desk it allowed for more open conversations about family and what drives us. These candid conversations help build your view of a character and very quickly you realise that Sarah is not very confident because her last boss always shot her down, or Billy doesn’t start work until 10 because he has 2 kids and drops them at school. You start to see how you can help people. I also believe it breaks down the divide between a managerial level and colleagues. As team leader there obviously needs to be a level of respect when I ask for things to be delivered but I am a human being like anyone else and understand that as a team we all need each other to function so there is no reason to treat me any different to any other colleague in that respect.

If you nurture an environment where employees feel respected, valued and accepted you are going to do everything in your power to ensure that everyone else feels the same and ultimately that you output the best you have so as to not let the rest of the team down. You create that sustainable unit and reduce turnover.

As Sophie mentioned mental health is more of a concern today than it has ever been and is something that can quite easily be overlooked. When you have 10 emails come at you at once all demanding an answer there and then it’s important to give yourself that time in the day to relax and recoup. We try to introduce activities every now again so that the day doesn’t become just a routine of sitting at the desk and churning out code. We regularly walk to the shops together on our lunch to get out in the sun (when it arrives) or do activities such as bake sales and creating flags to decorate our desks for the World Cup at the dinner table! Why should the fun end when you leave school!

Published by Sophie Thomas and Rebecca Johnson on 05.07.2018.

Sophie is our Assistant Web Coordinator and has been working within the Webteam since September 2017. Her role involves managing Social Media platforms, creating designs for both web and print and providing customers with website support. Sophie also has a Diploma in Social Media Marketing.

Becky is our Team Leader and Web Developer. She has been working within the Webteam since July 2011 and her role includes managing and supporting the whole team and developing the infrastructure of websites and ensuring sustainability. Becky also has Level 3 qualification in Education and Training, Level 2 qualification in Customer Service, PRINCE2 Foundation and Management Studies certificate.