Here, you'll find answers to common queries about how our platform works, its benefits, and guidance on how to make the most of our features for enhancing workplace well-being and culture. Whether you're just getting started or looking to deepen your understanding, this resource is designed to provide you with the clarity and support you need to foster a happier, more productive work environment.
While tracking employee engagement is crucial, mood tracking with Brighter Workdays offers a complementary and distinct perspective on your team's well-being and workplace atmosphere. Engagement metrics often reflect an employee's commitment and involvement with their work and the organisation, which are critical, but they don't always capture the daily fluctuations in mood that can significantly impact team dynamics, productivity, and overall workplace culture. By monitoring mood, you gain immediate insights into the emotional health of your employees, allowing for timely interventions and support. This real-time pulse on employee sentiment can help identify underlying issues that might not yet be reflected in engagement scores, ensuring a more comprehensive approach to fostering a positive and supportive work environment.
We've chosen to send mood tracking emails on Wednesday at noon based on insights into typical workweek dynamics. Midweek is a strategic choice, as it captures employee sentiment after they've settled into their weekly routines but before the wind-down of the week begins. This timing helps in obtaining a more accurate and balanced reflection of their mood, unaffected by the fresh start of a week or the anticipation of the weekend. Additionally, noon is selected to avoid the busy start of the workday and the potential rush at the end, aiming for a moment when employees are more likely to have a brief pause to reflect on and accurately report their mood. This approach is designed to maximise response rates and ensure the data collected is both meaningful and representative.
At Brighter Workdays, we prioritise the privacy and anonymity of all employees participating in mood tracking. As such, our analytics dashboard does not provide the capability to review feedback from individual employees. Furthermore, the data we collect and store is designed to be non-identifiable; it cannot be traced back to any individual. This means that even IT teams, with access to backend systems, cannot link mood feedback to specific employees due to our data obfuscation practices.
We believe that maintaining the anonymity of feedback is crucial for fostering genuine engagement. It encourages honest and open participation, as employees can share their true feelings without concern for potential repercussions. This approach ensures that the insights gathered reflect an authentic picture of workplace mood and morale, allowing organisations to make meaningful improvements that benefit everyone. By focusing on collective insights rather than individual responses, we help create a safer, more supportive environment for expressing and addressing workplace sentiments.
Currently, Brighter Workdays is not equipped with the capability to integrate directly with existing HR systems. However, we are actively working towards providing this feature in the future to enhance usability and streamline processes for our users. We understand the importance of seamless integration in maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of HR tools, and we're committed to evolving our platform to meet these needs.
We're keen to hear from you about which integrations would add the most value to your experience with Brighter Workdays. Your feedback is invaluable as it guides our development priorities and helps us tailor our solution to better serve your organisation's unique requirements. If there are specific HR systems or tools you're using that you'd like Brighter Workdays to support, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. Your insights will play a crucial role in shaping the future functionalities of our platform.
Engaging with the mood feedback process in Brighter Workdays is designed to be quick and straightforward, respecting employees' time and workloads. Initially, employees will receive an email prompt where they can indicate their current mood by selecting from five options. This step is incredibly swift, requiring only a few seconds to complete. For those who wish to provide further insight, an optional follow-up allows employees to select from a series of brief statements that best describe the reasons behind their mood. Completing this additional step typically takes just 10-20 seconds. Our approach ensures that participating in this valuable feedback process minimises interruption to the workday, making it feasible and hassle-free for everyone involved.
Employee engagement assesses long-term commitment, encapsulating how deeply employees are invested in their company's success, typically through comprehensive surveys on job satisfaction and organisational alignment. On the other hand, mood tracking focuses on capturing employees' short-term emotional states, offering a snapshot of their immediate well-being. This approach provides real-time insights, reflecting weekly fluctuations in emotions due to various factors. A key distinction is that while engagement surveys delve into the broader, enduring aspects of work life, mood tracking hones in on the current emotional climate. Importantly, research, including a study by Oxford University's Business School, underscores that happier workers are 13% more productive. This finding highlights the practical value of mood tracking in identifying and fostering the conditions that contribute to a happier, and thereby more productive, workforce. Together, engagement and mood tracking paint a comprehensive picture of employee experience, each with unique contributions towards enhancing workplace culture and productivity.
Currently, Brighter Workdays is optimised for environments where employees predominantly use work email, as our mood tracking relies on email communication. However, we're always seeking ways to enhance our platform and make it more inclusive. Feedback from our users plays a crucial role in guiding these improvements, and adapting our system to support organisations where work email is not widely used is something we may consider for future updates.
Numerous studies and research findings underscore the significant impact that monitoring and improving employee mood has on productivity, staff retention, and profitability:
- Increased Productivity: A landmark study by the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School found that workers are 13% more productive when happy. Happy employees often exhibit higher energy levels, creativity, and a willingness to go above and beyond in their roles.
- Staff Retention: According to research published in the "Harvard Business Review," employees who report being happier at work are less likely to leave their jobs. Positive mood and job satisfaction are closely linked to employee loyalty, reducing turnover rates and the associated costs of hiring and training new staff.
- Increased Profits: A study conducted by Gallup showed that businesses with highly engaged (and implicitly, happier) employees outperform their competitors by 147% in earnings per share. Engaged and positive employees contribute to a stronger work culture, leading to better customer service, fewer mistakes, and ultimately, higher profits.
- Better Health and Well-being: Improved mood at work is also associated with better physical and mental health among employees, as found in various studies. Healthier employees take fewer sick days, contribute to a positive work environment, and can perform at their best.
- Enhanced Team Dynamics: Positive mood within the workplace fosters better communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution among team members. This not only boosts productivity but also contributes to a more cohesive and supportive work environment.
Monitoring and enhancing employee mood, therefore, plays a pivotal role in creating a virtuous cycle where happier employees drive better business outcomes, which in turn, contribute to a more positive workplace atmosphere. This evidence strongly supports the investment in tools and strategies aimed at understanding and improving employee mood as a direct pathway to achieving organisational success.
Absolutely, Brighter Workdays offers flexibility in customising the reason for mood statements to align with your organisation's unique environment and culture. While the mood options—Happy, Content, Neutral, Stressed, and Unhappy—are fixed to maintain consistency in tracking and analysis, the platform allows you to tailor the follow-up statements that explore the reasons behind these moods. This customisation is done through the Brighter Workdays Portal, where you can adjust, add, or remove statements to ensure they are relevant to your team's specific situations, challenges, and achievements. This feature empowers organisations to gather meaningful insights that are directly applicable to their unique context, facilitating targeted improvements and interventions.
Yes, Brighter Workdays actively supports organisations with actionable insights derived from mood tracking results. Each week, you will receive an email summarising the mood trends observed during the previous week, along with tailored suggestions for addressing any areas of concern highlighted by the feedback. This approach is designed to empower managers and HR professionals with concrete steps they can take to enhance workplace morale and address any negative sentiments that may arise.
Looking ahead, we're excited about expanding our support capabilities. Future updates to Brighter Workdays will include an enriched set of recommendations for organisational improvements and direct suggestions to employees. These enhancements aim to provide individuals with resources—such as articles, videos, and books—related to their expressed mood, empowering them to take personal steps towards enhancing their well-being. This dual approach ensures both the organisation and its employees have the tools and knowledge to foster a positive and supportive work environment.
The 25-user minimum serves several purposes. Primarily, it ensures the platform's operational costs are covered for each organisation. Additionally, businesses with at least 25 employees are more likely to see significant benefits from using Brighter Workdays. In smaller teams, the close-knit nature often allows for a direct understanding of each member's mood and well-being. However, as organisations grow beyond this size, maintaining such an intimate understanding becomes challenging. Brighter Workdays is designed to bridge this gap, providing valuable insights into employee mood that might otherwise be difficult to capture, making it an ideal solution for larger teams.
Weekly mood tracking with Brighter Workdays is designed to be minimally intrusive and quick, significantly reducing the risk of survey fatigue compared to longer, more in-depth surveys. The process is streamlined so that providing feedback takes only a few seconds each week, making it far less burdensome for employees than traditional surveys. The benefits of this regular check-in include real-time insights into the workforce's emotional well-being, allowing for timely interventions that can enhance the workplace environment and employee satisfaction.
We are actively monitoring feedback on the mood tracking process to ensure it remains engaging and not burdensome. Based on this ongoing feedback, we're open to adjusting the frequency of mood tracking to best suit the needs of both organisations and their employees. Our goal is to continuously refine our approach to maximise employee engagement while minimising any potential for survey fatigue, ensuring that Brighter Workdays effectively supports a positive and productive work culture.