Work and Play: Taxtech’s Top 5 Tips for a Happier Workplace

There is a lot of research around happiness at work. The claims are bold too: workers are more productive and happier, colleagues are more efficient, take fewer sick days and stay with their employer longer.
Can this be true? Yes! At Taxdoo, we believe in the power of friendship. We spend so much of our lives at work, so we’ve shared some tips from the seemingly serious and dull world of taxtech on how to have fun at work.

Celebrate small wins

It’s normal to sometimes feel unmotivated or overwhelmed with our workloads. Especially in the fast paced world of tech!
The trick is to break down the work into smaller tasks and reward yourself when you complete them. As humans, we love a checklist and get a kick from ticking off tasks- science backs this and even suggests that we derive mental energy from completing tasks (Frontiers Psychology, 20 August 2021). So the next time you feel stressed with work or a deadline, try slicing up the tasks into manageable chunks and decide how you’ll treat yourself once you’ve finished.

Tip 1

Our software engineers share a few tips on how they weave in mood-boosting treats throughout the day, including fresh air, meditation and taking a break to stroll around the block. Your manager and your brain will thank you for it!

Find a work bestie

Everyone needs a friend- especially at work. Workplace culture and norms have changed a lot, so strict or formal boundaries between colleagues have melted to create opportunities for authentically showing up and getting to know the people you work with.

The post-pandemic world of working is definitely the new normal, be it remote, hybrid or back to the office. What hasn’t changed? The need for human connection. Getting along with colleagues remains really crucial for enjoying work and feeling like you belong there. Gallup’s research confirms that having a trusted best friend at work means that you are you are 12% more likely to stay in your job than someone who doesn’t, as well as highlighting other benefits such as being more engaged, productive, more likely to promote safety, be more innovative and you guessed it, have more fun at work.

Some of you may be wondering about how to approach the subject of making friends at work. After all, making friends as an adult can be awkward. It can take you back to being at school again, which isn’t always a vibe. But as we spend more waking time with people we work with than any other group of people in our lives, it seems a shame not to try and see if being friends could work.

Tip 2

So, how do you make friends at work? To start with, say hello when you arrive in the office or start a Zoom call. It’s so simple, yet friendly small talk is often the way that conversations start. Another good trick is to ask people about themselves and remembering that detail in later conversations- it shows that you care and that you’ve actively listened to what they’ve said.
If your company offers sponsored events like afterwork drinks or lunches, accept the invite- it’s also a conversation starter in the event run up. If you work remotely, invite a colleague for a virtual coffee.

At Taxdoo, we encourage everyone to make friends at work. From day one, we pair new starters with a buddy to show them around on their first day, check in on them during the week and catch up for coffee regularly during their first few months. We also use the Slack app, Donut, to promote conversation and connection. Donut pairs colleagues on Slack randomly, then sends them an invite to schedule a thirty minute call during that week- ideally, with a coffee and a doughnut. During the pandemic, this was a great way for people to meet others from different departments and it’s been so popular that we’ve kept it as a firm Taxdoo favourite.

Of course, work friends are to be cherished as much as personal friends, however there are a few things to keep in mind so that you and your work besties stay bosom buddies. The Muse has compiled a list of the top five rules of work friendship– our favourite is number four: be yourself.

Learn to love professional growth

Growth means trying to improve and become better at new things.
New things can be scary, unpleasant or just something we don’t want to try for fear of looking silly. Being nestled in the comfort zone is cosy, right? But comfy and happy aren’t the same.
At work, the key to being happy is to avoid monotony and embrace change. This can mean volunteering for that high profile project, leading a workshop on an area you are an expert in or mastering a new software tool that your company has introduced. Why have this mindset? The psychologist, Rick Walker, completed research that studied ‘30,000 event memories and over 500 diaries’ and found that ‘people who engage in a variety of experiences are more likely to retain positive emotions and minimize negative ones than people who have fewer experiences’ (Time.com, ‘Health and Happiness’).

Tip 3

Professional growth looks different for everyone, so a good exercise is to list some areas that you feel confident with and areas that you feel less confident in. Rank each area. Then write down skills or achievements that inspire you. What could you do to improve the skills you feel less confident with? How can you achieve the goals that you aspire to? If you feel comfortable, share this with your line manager or a member of the HR team. This conversation will centre around creating a plan for you and will help to identify immediate to long term opportunities within the business that suit your goals.

Learn a new skill

It takes between 20-10,000 hours to learn a new skill. Yes, the breadth of time to become a master is significant, however everyone has to start somewhere. If it’s transferable to your role, why not pitch the idea to your boss and get the company on side to support you with training and time to master this skill? At Taxdoo, every employee is gifted 10% of their time as ‘innovation time’. Taxdoo encourages employees to be creative, so this time is dedicated to learning and experimenting. One amazing outcome from this was bringing Taxdoo tax experts and software developers closer together through Domain Driven Design, an idea that started from a book club started by Senior Software Engineer, Maximilian Heß, through his own ‘innovation time’ budget.

Learning a new skill keeps you interested in your day to day, keeps your marketable skills up to date and sparks solutions that may never have been found.

Tip 4

Struggling to think of where to begin? We have some ideas for you that require just the click of a link! Have you also been interested in coding? We asked our developers for tips on anyone starting out as a newbie developer. Already a seasoned pro? There’s always time to sharpen the basics! Why not check out how clean your code is on your work or side project? Wondering what on earth EI is? Check out this article that Marie Canero, Engineering Team Lead, wrote on how you can improve your tech career by developing emotional intelligence.

We all deserve to be happy every day, even at work. Can these science-backed happiness tips help make our jobs more fun and less glum? There’s only one way to find out!
We hope these tips have been useful and have sparked some ideas of making your work life even more enjoyable!
We’d love to hear if you have any other ideas or tips to add- feel free to reach out on X, LinkedIn or Instagram.

Oh, we almost forgot! We have another tip on the theme ‘fun at work’…