Last month we celebrated another successful National Hug Your Boss Day on Friday 13th September.
As usual we saw photos and videos of employees being spread across social media expressing their love for their bosses as well as their colleagues across the World. Most bosses show a reciprocal amount of love and enjoyment from the hugs, some cringe, some refuse. We have some cracking shots!
Thank you to everyone who shared their moments and joined in with the fun. On the serious side, we are still looking at assisting, encouraging, developing, growing and managing relationships within the workplace and especially those between colleagues and with managers or the other way around, with employees. It is so important to try to improve and nurture the environment that we work in to ensure there is excellent communication and productivity for everyone, increased motivation and morale across the workforce.
Next year, we have set the date for celebrations again which will be Friday 18th September 2020. Please stick it in the diary and be prepared to join in with us.
Photos from this year are now up on the website. We attempted to collate as many as we can.....
CHECK OUT THE 2019 PICTURES HERE
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Latest research tells us that over three quarters of employees work hard to impress their boss.
Everyone strives to please and there is no exception to relationships at work. One of the most important people in life to impress is your boss - they are the ones you have to perform well for, the one who promotes you, agrees to pay rises, does not sack you etc
We are pleased to reveal that sucking up to the boss does not come anywhere near for most.
Among the other options were.... befriending them, avoiding stress, arriving early, helping colleagues.
Did we miss any other ways you strive to impress your boss? Tell us below...
It is great to see that lemon water is making an appearance as one of the first things that people consume in the morning. We can imagine that 3 years ago, it was fairly non-existent!
Our latest research around what people have first thing in the morning, show some interesting (some great, some NOT SO great!) facts…..
Top of the pile, coffee or tea, is what the majority of people jump to drinking - a whopping 45% of people start their day off with some caffeine!
29% go for a good hearty breakfast. The option that is sure to kick start the day off well and get the brain ticking. We are happy to see that a decent proportion enjoy a good breaky every morning.
As already mentioned, lemon water was an option and 10% of people now begin their day by cleansing their systems. This is music to our ears 😊
Unfortunately, there are still some that choose NOT to have anything (6%) and others who grab that naughty takeaway (7%). Plus only 3% start their day with a smoothie – although this surprises us with the current trend in juicing and making smoothies - we thought this figure would be much higher. Maybe it is just too time intensive in the morning rush?
In conclusion, we believe that businesses should start to educate their employees about how to begin their day and highlight what options are best for their body and mind. It is in the interest of the company at the end of the day as it can ultimately dictate the employees performance. Who wants a tired, sluggish, grumpy employee in their office?
What are your thoughts?
We have almost completed the aftermath analysis of National Hug Your Boss Day - what brilliant and far-reaching involvement we had this year. We saw mentions including pictures and videos of hugging with bosses and colleagues spanning around the Globe, from Australia to The USA, from The Phillippines to Germany and many more. It really was fantastic to see some many people having fun with the day and hopefully thinking about the serious side of it too :)
You can now see some of the pictures we managed to capture up on the website here.
If we did not publish yours and you want to see it here, please do email us and we would be glad to include your picture.
So, until next year, do remember that your working relationships are hugely important to your everyday happiness at work so please do invest some time in developing them.
If you want to read any of our articles, head over to the website where we provide some ideas for motivating staff, building relationships and more.......
With National Hug Your Boss Day being celebrated next month, we are now gathering data around relationships at work so we can share new statistics and facts.
We are currently asking our users, if they think their relationships with their colleagues could be improved. Do you think they could? Even just a little? Or are they either fine as they are or do you think they are so bad you do not even want to bother to try to improve them?
Whatever situation you find yourself in, let us know and help us build a picture of the current state of relationships at work today.
You can find the survey on our homepage of the website or you can CLICK HERE through to the page. Thank you in advance. We appreciate your input :)
Mental health has become a much talked about subject across the World right now so we have been investigating this delicate field within the workplace and if people felt that mental health had possibly been triggered by certain working situations. With many people working long hours, feeling stressed and struggling to maintain a healthy work life balance it would seem like there could be a link between the two.
The survey asked if people or their friends/colleagues/people they knew had suffered with mental health issues triggered by work related issues. Reassuringly, 70% said no but there were still 30% saying yes, showing us that some working environments may not be right for many. Although the response clearly shows more people stating no, which is great, there is still a large proportion (the 30%) that are suffering, most probably in silence, because of something related to work which could be avoided or addressed. On top of this, we must also account for those who do suffer with mental health issues but do not realise that it is their workplace or job causing it. An interesting statistic according to MIND, the mental health charity found that one in six people suffer from mental health in the workplace.
So, what can we as workers do to try to manage mental health or reduce the potential of it hitting us altogether? Here are some things to think about....
- Take regular breaks and go for a walk to get fresh air
- Create fun social situations with the people you work with, like lunches, drinks, bowling etc
- Listen to music to help you to unwind, de-stress
- Eat healthily and avoid excess alcohol
- Manage the work life balance by avoiding doing too many hours
- Build a to-do list that you can use to make sure you do not become overwhelmed and over-loaded
- Do not leave any problems or uncertainties to brew and always address them with your bosses or colleagues
The MIND website, has some great ideas that we would recommend reading if this is something affecting you. Click here to have a look.
Our latest review on how colleagues felt about each other sadly found that 6% cannot actually stand who they work with. Even though 6% is not a huge number, it is still a proportion of individuals who do not enjoy working alongside their colleagues.
On the happier note, a total of 74% fortunately "liked" or "loved" them (of that 74%, 33% LOVED their colleagues). This is great news for the morale, motivation and productivity of those organisations because if colleagues actually like each other, they will enjoy being around each other, be happier in their daily activities and therefore ultimately the company wins all around.
So, what is the advice to those who hate their co-workers? If it is really making you feel unhappy at work and you cannot concentrate on your work, then maybe it is worth talking to your manager/boss about changing your seating arrangements so you are either away from those you do not like or with people that you prefer to be around.
If there are multiple people that you cannot stand at work, then maybe it is worth considering a change in your role or even company. Maybe the industry you are in does not suit your personality and fit in with the kind of people you want to be surrounded by. Hopefully, it does not require a job or career change, but if it does, do not forget to check out the roles we have on our site and apply online there.
Here is an illustration of the full survey results that we found....
Most employees find that it is "The Company" that hinders career progression over anything else. In our latest survey we asked what most employees find holds them back from moving their careers forward out of a number of given options including "The company", "The Role", "Colleagues", "The Boss", "Their Skills" and "Their Confidence".
37% of responses selected "The Company" as the main reason for hindering their progression. Second to this were the individuals "Skills" of which 22% responded. Next, 14% selected "Confidence" from the options available - amazing that so many people have a lack of confidence that holds them back in their career!!
"The Role", "Colleagues" and "The Boss" were at the bottom of the pile. Only 6% chose "Colleagues", 8% "The Boss" and 12% "The Role".
Whatever the reason, career progression is so important to keeping an individual interested in their job and willing them to work for the company for the longer term rather than just the short term. The fact that most employees are stating that it is "The Company" holding them back shows that there are potentially no opportunities to progress within the company they are working for so the only option for promotions or advancements would be to move elsewhere. Have you got experience of a company hindering your career progression? Tell us the details here....
In our latest survey we discovered that 46% of colleagues are able to talk freely and openly to each other whilst at work. Not only that but they feel no restriction on when or where they can have an open natter and at any point throughout the working day, personal discussions happily take place.
36% felt that they could talk openly and freely to their colleagues too but they needed to limit this to out of working hours only. Work hours equal work.
Finally, only 18% of respondents felt they could not talk to their colleagues about personal matters. Colleagues are kept at a professional arms length at all times!
So, which category do you fall into? If you are one of the 36%, do you find yourself emailing and texting each other because of the restrictions in place within working hours or are you simply too busy to even consider a personal discussion?
Only 3 more days to go until we celebrate National Hug Your Boss Day.
SO WHAT IS NATIONAL HUG YOUR BOSS DAY?
National Hug Your Boss Day was created by TipTopJob.com back in 2008. The idea behind launching the day was to promote healthy workplace relationships. We believe that if you are happy to hug your boss then you are more than likely enjoying your job and this in turn may lead to better morale/motivation at work and therefore productivity. We are not saying this is always going to be the case but it is the logic behind the fun!!
We figure that because you spend most of your waking day with those at work, why not make it a more enjoyable experience by getting along with everyone and trying to develop the relationships you have?
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to promote healthy working relationships worldwide and provide assistance to those who need help to better their relationships with colleagues and managers.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
All you need to do is send us a photo of you hugging your boss or colleagues to hugyourboss@tiptopjob.com, upload it to our Facebook page or share via Twitter using the hashtags #hugyourboss or #hugyourbossday. You will also see your picture featured in the Gallery on the website within the next few weeks. We are also seeing plenty of videos being shared so if you prefer to record your hugs, we really appreciate the extra effort and enjoy watching them!
So, what are you waiting for.....get hugging :)