Tell us, how did you get into this field?
This happened many years ago. I had just graduated from university and was looking for a job that would bring not only money but also pleasure. The one where I could implement my best soft skills.
So, one of my close friends told me that she has a person in her office who creates a good mood for them, like today, when they ordered a gyro board to ride around the office (I tell you, this was in those years when the gyro board was all the rage).
And so it all happened, I went to the (job searching) sites, found a suitable vacancy, and, after an interview, got into the company of my dreams.
What job did you have before?
Before taking the dream position, I worked as an operator in the Vodafone call center during my studies at the university, and after that, I moved to the Vodafone store for direct contact with customers.
How long have you been working as a Happiness Manager?
Over eight years.
What does Happiness Manager do? What are their main tasks and responsibilities?
In the classical sense, this is a person whose goal is to cheer up, encourage, and amuse everyone. In other words, make everyone happy. But, in fact, it is much deeper.
The main tasks partially include office management, HR, Operations, PR, and Employer Branding.
In our company, my responsibilities include not only part of happiness but also a wide range of projects, such as Travel Management and participation in the development and implementation of high-quality internal EVP. As for the happiness part, this includes a full cycle of caring for people, congratulations on all professional holidays, and birthdays, organization of summer and winter corporate parties, as well as weekly funny events, such as the Maslenitsa holiday week or Optimist Day.
It is important for us to maintain contact with each employee even during remote work. In most events, we are in touch if employees can participate remotely, for example, cast their vote for a participant or receive congratulations on the New Year.
What hard and soft skills does Happiness Manager need?
Soft skills:
- creative thinking;
- multifunctionality;
- a positive view of the world (a must-have, because “cons” people will definitely not be good workers);
- result orientation;
- persistence in high-quality standards for the results of their work.
Hard skills:
- knowledge of the basics of psychology;
- ability to work with large volumes of different projects in parallel.
Also Read: How To Develop Communication Skills
Can, for example, an HR manager or Office Manager of a company fully perform the functions of a Happiness Manager in their position? Or should the Happiness Manager still be a separate specialist with their own range of tasks?
Of course, they can. But here, we first need to understand the purpose and the number of people in the company. If the company is small, with up to 50 employees, and the goal is to support the spirit of colleagues, for example, ordering pizza to the office once a month, then one hundred percent yes.
But if we are talking about conducting an analysis of the “employee mood”, weekly events, and deeper contact with people, then the answer is definitely “no”. We need a separate person.
What are the benefits of having a Happiness Manager on staff?
Happy employees are the main investment of the company. For several years, Employee Experience has been one of the top HR trends. This includes the process of selection, interviews, adaptation, development, and performance of daily tasks.
In the end, it is the experience of employees in a particular company, positive or negative, that will affect many important aspects:
- performance and profitability of the company;
- its image and reputation as an employer;
- level of turnover;
- the personal brand of the business owner.
Has your work become more difficult with the mass transition of companies to a remote format during covid and war conditions?
Yes, there were certain difficulties associated with the delivery of gift products to different countries and across Ukraine, since everything used to be in the office. As well as the search for additional opportunities for joint pastimes. But after covid, I acquired a lot of skills.
What challenges do you face in completing your tasks?
Excessive concern for people, perhaps. Because you want everyone to be happy and satisfied, but it doesn’t always work out that way. And even if everyone seems to be happy, there are still those for whom something does not suit them for some reason, and often these reasons or circumstances are not at all related to work.
Give an example of a successful case in your practice. And an example of failure.
Successful case and failure at the same time. Let’s call it a “failure”.
Once, in one of the companies, we celebrated the firm’s birthday, and on a certain date, we planned to bring a bunch of balloons to the office, order branded cakes with a logo, and festively decorate the office so that there were a bunch of garlands and a festive mood. But it so happened that we mixed up the date. We were sure that the birthday was on Wednesday, but it turned out that it actually was on Tuesday. We accidentally discovered this on Tuesday morning and we were shocked.
Literally by lunchtime, everything was already as we planned: I got the cakes with a logo (yes, I still don’t believe it myself, they were made in just three hours), balloons were delivered within two hours, an hour later, I already had lights, crackers, and everything you need. After this case, I generally believe that nothing is simply impossible.
A very important conclusion that I made: carefully check the calendar, do not panic, and do what you know best with a cool head. Have a great team that will support you in any situation, an encouraging and helping leader, as well as a secret list of the best contractors who will turn a pumpkin into a shoe in three hours! I keep them in my heart to this day.
By the way, at that time no one noticed that something went wrong. And this is super lucky!
How can you become a Happiness Manager today? What advice would you give to those who want to take this position in the company?
My favorite phrase. Actually, there are two of them:
- The one who does something gets something.
- The one who does nothing fails.
They are really very similar, you can choose any. Not only for job search but also for life.
It is enough to open different job sites, look through all open vacancies, and write a cover letter to everyone. Here, I advise you to add creativity because the vacancy is like that. Imagine that you have no limits, what would you do?
I am sure that if you start doing something, you will definitely succeed. Even without work experience. Just start. And believe in yourself. I believe in you!
Read also: How to get a job without experience
