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Our Insights

We publish regular articles on how to improve your workplace culture keeping track of the latest people trends, so you'll know how to make your company a happier place.

The World Happiness Report is out: what does it tell us about annual surveys?

The World Happiness Report is out: what does it tell us about annual surveys?

The results of the biggest annual happiness survey in the world were released earlier this week: the 2023 World Happiness Report (WHR). It covers over 100 countries and ranks them by how happy their citizens are. Carrying out over 100 representative samples of national populations every year is a hugely complex statistical task. And are the results really that useful? I think it’s questionable.

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In a pressured world you need to invest your time wisely

In a pressured world you need to invest your time wisely

Leading a team is never easy, but it’s especially hard when you are under constant time pressure. Delivering results is always going to seem more urgent than looking after the people side of team leadership. Yet if things go wrong and you end up with an unhappy team, then everything becomes a lot more stressful. So, investing a little time every week can save a lot of time (and stress) over coming weeks.

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How Leaders Can Help Teams Survive Burnout

How Leaders Can Help Teams Survive Burnout

Recent years have created a fertile environment for burnout and brought about shifts in working habits that organizations are still navigating. Traditional companies are working harder than ever, while the increase in hybrid or remote-first cultures presents its own challenges.

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How to Say No at Work Without Feeling Guilty

How to Say No at Work Without Feeling Guilty

How to say no gracefully in business is a key skill to develop. Taking on too much work can have a severe psychological impact, possibly even leading to full burnout. Here we explore how to say no at the right time, in the right way, creating healthy, polite boundaries in the process.

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Low Employee Morale: Signs, Causes and Fixes

Low Employee Morale: Signs, Causes and Fixes

Addressing low employee morale and overall wellbeing is a crucial component of business performance. During periods of social upheaval, organizational change, and more generally in day-to-day operations, it is essential not to overlook the human aspects and challenges that employees face.

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The Soft Stuff Is the Hard Stuff: Team Leadership Is Hard

The Soft Stuff Is the Hard Stuff: Team Leadership Is Hard

Leading a team isn’t easy. You are under pressure from above and below. There are targets to be met and people, with different personalities and motivations, to manage. It’s a tough gig. But what makes for a successful team? How important is the team leader? Which skills matter?

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How a Weekly Team Meeting Can Generate a 5x ROI

How a Weekly Team Meeting Can Generate a 5x ROI

Returns on investment have never been more critical as recession is looming. Yet, if we were to offer you a 5X return on investment – in Year One – you would certainly not believe us. There has to be a catch, right?

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Happiness – The Perk that Never Gets Old

Happiness – The Perk that Never Gets Old

Companies often look to perks as a way of increasing staff engagement, but effective, long-lasting change comes from cultivating a work environment that satisfies people’s core psychological needs.

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International Day of Happiness 2022: Make Happiness a Weekly Habit for your Team

International Day of Happiness 2022: Make Happiness a Weekly Habit for your Team

It feels odd to focus on happiness while the last remnants of a pandemic still linger on and there is war in Ukraine. However this weekend it is International Day of Happiness, which was founded by the UN during more peaceful times.  The idea was to focus on the importance of happiness as a universal goal. And while tensions and anxieties are at an all-time high, there are certain things we can control in our own sphere of influence.

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Beat the January Blues and Thrive in 2022

Beat the January Blues and Thrive in 2022

As we enter year three of the pandemic, today is Blue Monday — the supposed most depressing day of the year that ties holiday blues with winter and job dissatisfaction. And, it’s clear that people are struggling amid the continued uncertainty. So, what can we do to beat Blue Monday this year and ensure 2022 is about thriving, not just surviving?

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Wellbeing – the ultimate (pandemic) shock absorber

Wellbeing – the ultimate (pandemic) shock absorber

The 9th World Happiness Report acts as an excellent benchmark for our wellbeing data. And, Friday Pulse clients have fared significantly better than their peers during the pandemic. Here’s a detailed look at how this happened.

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One size doesn’t fit all in a company of microcultures

One size doesn’t fit all in a company of microcultures

As we start to see the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel there are huge questions about how we will work in the future. Many CEOs share an idea that working from home is not the new normal and believe it has undermined work culture and productivity. But, working from home is here to stay and companies need is a flexible and agile culture that can meet the needs of their workforce.

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The Workplace Trends that Matter in 2021

The Workplace Trends that Matter in 2021

Our hopes and expectations for 2021 are admittedly low — it just needs to be better than 2020. But even with the slow rollout of vaccines, there is little to believe that the first part of the year will be any different (though our cousins in the US may feel the new start with a new President). Even so, some trends have stood out to us for the year ahead.

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The Bluest of Blue Mondays

The Bluest of Blue Mondays

As managers continue to play an essential role in determining how well their organizations navigate the ongoing pandemic, we provide some practical, positive advice for beating the Blue Monday ‘blues’ this year.

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What is Work Life Balance and How to Improve it

What is Work Life Balance and How to Improve it

It’s increasingly difficult for workers in all sectors to find the right balance in work/life. Remote or hybrid working is normal for many, and yet it comes with a cost. Friday Pulse’s latest data shows that work life balance has deteriorated across the board and isn’t bouncing back. Here we look at the importance of work life balance and give tips to improve it.

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Being Fair in Redundancy

Being Fair in Redundancy

Companies who haven’t recovered well during the pandemic could now be forced to make difficult decisions to survive. No decision is more gut-wrenching and threatening to workplace culture than the decision to let people go, and the current pandemic has caused some companies to approach layoffs in wrong ways. But, what can we learn from those organizations that get it right?

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How's Work?                         The OK is Not OK Edition

How's Work? The OK is Not OK Edition

Where once the average response to “How have you felt at work this week?” was happy, the new normal is now “Ok”. The costs of a workforce becoming just “Ok” about work can be high but connecting with your team in better ways may be a feasible solution.

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Mental Health Awareness Week: The Five Ways are the Friday Way

Mental Health Awareness Week: The Five Ways are the Friday Way

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. Mental health is a critical part of our business. Our purpose at Friday Pulse is to improve wellbeing in the workplace. It’s our reason for being – now more than ever, as we all navigate our way through the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The week also provides an opportunity for us to reflect on The Five Ways to Wellbeing — how we designed them and their legacy. A precursor to The Five Ways to Happiness at Work, their development would eventually come to shape Friday Pulse, the direction we take and, ultimately, who we are as a business.

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How Focusing on Employee Wellbeing Can Reap a 5x ROI

How Focusing on Employee Wellbeing Can Reap a 5x ROI

A 5x return on investment in year one is, you may think, both elusive and improbable. Yet, it’s entirely possible when you proactively look after employee wellbeing and team morale.

Putting numbers on what is intangible is, by nature, an estimation compared to other financial drivers within a business. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. At Friday Pulse, we’ve done just that – estimated the return on investment in wellbeing. And when potential returns are so significant, it shows that the investment is worthwhile.

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How We Calculate the Resilience Calculator?

How We Calculate the Resilience Calculator?

Estimating the monetary impact of a rise or fall in employee experience and morale is necessarily an estimation process. We use the best, most reliable available information from both external and our own proprietary research.

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