International Day of Happiness 2024

Happy International Day of Happiness!

Your happiness and well-being matters! In fact, it matters so much that it has its own officially recognised day. In 2012, the United Nations declared that the 20th of March is officially the International Day of Happiness, a day for not only reflecting on your own happiness but spreading happiness to others as well. According to the World Happiness Report 2023, more and more people believe that a countries success should be judged by the happiness of its people. We at Hinchen Recruitment Group believe that same success applies to the business world as well.

Gallup reports suggest that unhappy employees cost the world $8.8 trillion dollars, or 9% of global GDP. Other reports claim employee happiness has hit a 3-year low with those numbers increasing on a global scale.

At Hinchen, we’re very passionate about employee happiness and have taken steps to promote happiness and well-being with our workers. We believe if you follow similar steps, it will not only help the employees but the business as a whole:

Support – Since February 2020, Microsoft Teams users have seen a reported 252% increase in their weekly meeting times and the number of weekly meetings increasing by 153%. Having hybrid or remote work opportunities is invaluable in today’s market, but the separation of home and office work creates a lot of distance. Like most businesses, we have our weekly WIP meetings to ensure everything is running smoothly but not only that, we have a weekly “Highs, Lows and What Do You Know” meeting. This is our chance to share our wins, complain about our loses and share any new insights or knowledge with the whole team. Getting that support when you’re having a bad week or being celebrated during the good ones creates a strong support network with the entire team, regardless of their office, state or even country. Our new Regional Director of New South Wales, Kelly Pike, loves that our meetings aren’t just about ticking boxes and following the agenda, it’s about connecting with each other, providing advice/support and being an inclusive workforce. She also added the importance of being authentic and available which could be as simple as taking someone who needs support for a walk around the block.

Flexibility – The Australian Bureau of Statistics released a report last year claiming 37% of Australians work from home regularly. This has increased since the 2020 pandemic, meaning those changes have proven to be beneficial for businesses all over Australia. We believe that flexibility is integral for employee happiness as it’s a crucial part of work-life balance and the market agrees. Flexibility isn’t just about working from home; it's about understanding the needs of your employees. Whether it’s allowing parents to leave early pick up the kids from school or having quarterly discussions about work-life balance strategies, these are just some steps you can make to not only improve employee retention, but employee happiness.

Purpose – Our Regional Director of Victoria, Frank Van West, loves to say that, as recruiters, we’re in “The Business of Happiness”. This is because not only are we working towards improving the lives of our clients but also the lives of our candidates. It can be easy to get caught up in the stress of everyday life and lose sight of the important things. We believe it’s important that people feel a genuine sense of purpose in their careers and that purpose encourages happiness. Being able to reaffirm why you do what you do and look at the impact of your work. We believe in the importance of feedback, whether it’s from co-workers, managers, or clients. At Hinchen Recruitment Group, we celebrate an internal monthly “People’s Choice Award” to recognise the hard work of our employees which is voted on by every member of the company. We celebrate our wins as a team, and we share all the great feedback we receive from our clients and candidates. This not only a moment for celebration, but to reaffirm the importance of the work we do and the impact we have on people’s lives. Having that clear sense of purpose helps to create a positive environment where people are happy to be doing the work they do.

If you want to celebrate this year’s International Day of Happiness, help to spread happiness through your workplace. It doesn’t matter what level of the business you work in; everyone can help to spread awareness and help to create a positive environment.



As one final note, if you find yourself unhappy with where you’re working, maybe it’s time for a new career opportunity? At Hinchen Recruitment Group, we’re happy to help so feel free to check out our website for any new opportunities you might be interested in: https://www.hinchen.com.au/