'Happiest Business' nomination for giffgaff

With nominations for the Laughology happiness awards closing next Monday, nominations are flooding in.

The latest nomination is from Alastair Gill of giffgaff in Uxbridge. As part of his nomination Alastair said:

'giffgaff is a movement for a better way of doing things and at the heart of this movement are people. We believe if you don't understand people you don't understand business; especially in the sharing economy; the economy based on trust and mutuality. In fact, giffgaff is a ye olde Scottish for mutual giving. So that pretty much sums us up really.

'Much like any good ship’s crew, focus on people is what ultimately steers you through those choppy seas to eventually enter unchartered territory. That spot where few dare to go.

'Nautical, references aside. At giffgaff we are ultimately a community of like-minded folk all with the similar belief that there must a better way of doing things; and by that we don't just mean by being online only when others had shops, or how we built a community of giffgaff members who help each other out and do awesome things. We also mean our approach to our people, the lovely guys and gals who do their best work here.

'People engagement at giffgaff isn't just about our people events, parties, breakfast, pool tables and a beer fridge. It is more than that. It is about purpose, interaction and engagement. Engaged people are happy and productive people. This keeps us lean and true. So what else do we do? 

'Happiness and engagement both have their nuances and culture is organic so like a farmer we take the approach of providing the right conditions and for our people to thrive then nurture it.

'We get the right people on the bus. No brilliant jerks. So put importance of values and culture to our hiring. Surrounding our teams with incredible peers and access to anyone and everyone is pivotal in our sustainability and growth. 

'We know that recognition is the food for growth, and feedback feeds curiosity so we foster culture of praise, recognition and feedback that incorporates giffgaffer of the month and our peer to peer recognition and rewards platform Lifeworks. 

'We develop our people by providing the opportunity to develop themselves. Through autonomy, mastery and purpose. We put our people in the driving seat, throw them into big challenges, empower to make the big call. Our role is to facilitate, coach and Lead the way. We call it a development dialogue it’s organic. 

'Ground up. We have dedicated ‘Ministries’ for Development, Sport, good times, Health & Wellbeing and good deeds (charity) that all giffgaffers sign up to the ones they want to contribute to. These act as ideation platforms to drive engagement; be that a 400 mile bike trip to Amsterdam raising 20k for charity, gaffercakes (our very own take on bake off), Yoga, mindfulness, talks about walking the Amazon, or a food bank for the local community to name just a few. 

'In essence, we get the right people on the bus, cultivate an environment for people to thrive, relentlessly work on it and always evolve our people. We call it the giffgaff way.'

Go to the Awards page to find out how to nominate your business, organisation or a team member for a Happiness Award 2016. Tell us why your workplace is the happiest in the UK.

Nominations close on the 17th October 2016

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