A Learning & Development Consultant, from Staffordshire, is excited to launch her new business born out of lockdown, as a Staff Happiness Strategist, after she chose to leave corporate life herself pre-Covid thanks to feeling disempowered and unmotivated and is now on a mission to empower female business owners to create happy workplaces for staff returning to work. As part of her launch she is running a free masterclass offering free advice and tips alongside leading workplace psychologist Richard Reid

Workplace statistics show that only one in ten Brits felt engaged at work* before lockdown with Julie falling into this category and leaving her corporate role in 2019. Recognising that employee engagement is more important than ever prompted Julie to launch her business utilising her extensive experience in Learning and Development and HR.

The health and safety and wellbeing of employees during the pandemic has been priority as Employers have a statutory duty of care to do so according to The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Julie is working with business owners to get this right now and come out of the crisis in a stronger position as research has shown that those with engaged teams have 21% greater profitability, 17% higher productivity and 10% higher customer ratings than disengaged teams**

There is no denying that the crisis has resulted in a focus in communication, however, it is found that this is built up of 90% company, strategy, innovation, performance, customers, products, etc., and only 10% about people ***. Julie has created a signature system to help her clients to change this around and really go the extra mile creating happy, thriving workplaces. The H.A.P.P.Y system is for any business at any stage looking to have a Happy And Productive Profitable Year.

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Julie,38, left her corporate role due to the very reason of not feeling engaged and the flexibility required to support her family of 3 children, throwing herself into writing CVs and providing VA work to HR and Training Professionals. Starting a journey of development in her own business she recognised that something was missing and developed a newfound confidence in what she had done in her career and wanted to help business owners now more than ever to stop anyone feeling how she did.

Julie said “I want to highlight the impact that employee engagement can have on productivity and profits especially for small businesses. Business owners are facing the toughest few months and I want to help them to come out of this stronger with happy and stronger workplaces. I get to know my clients and understand their business and their teams to make the changes that results in employees loving their work so much that they don’t want to leave on a Friday night.”

“I have been in a job where I was not engaged so I know exactly how it feels. I am a doer – I need to be busy to be at my best and working on a project where there wasn’t much to do was not great for me. As my career has been all about developing people to be the best, they can I want to use this experience to share my H.A.P.P.Y system and create great places to work.”

“Back in 2019 I was trying to balance being a mum with a career, and my husband was also working away which meant I was feeling the pressure more. I was already feeling down as I was not very busy due to the project being put back and I love being busy. The flexibility the company gave me with regards to appointments and working from home was a massive eye opener that I could still have a career and be there for my children which is why I took the leap to work for myself. It hasn’t been easy, but I have learnt a lot about myself and running a business along the way.”

Julie’s business is now up and running and she offers 60 minute discovery calls which can be booked in advance via www.juliefinnikin.com

Her top tips for engaging staff coming back to work are:-

  1. Communication is a two-way process. Keep your staff up to date with what’s happening and listen to what’s happening with them
  2. Everyone is different and have coped with the crisis in their own way. Take some time to understand how each of your team are feeling
  3. Recognise they are doing a good job and tell them. Make them feel safe and show them how important they are to you
  4. Embrace that things have had to be done differently. Find out what your staff think has worked and what hasn’t worked and embrace the changes
  5. Show your commitment to your staff, look at development opportunities such as upskilling and training
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