Career progression at Happy is unique because we do not have layers of hierarchy. Instead of following a traditional corporate ladder, we focus on matching people’s strengths with a proactive, can-do attitude. We encourage everyone to take full accountability and ownership of their career path and their role. We expect our people to behave like leaders, pro-actively seeking opportunities to learn and grow.
Find out more below about people’s career journeys, how we nominate future leaders, and our action groups.
At Happy, there are two pathways beyond demonstrating leadership in your role: One pathway focuses on people skills, becoming a Mentor and Multiplier (or a people manager), while the other emphasises strategy and business development, leading as a non-M&M leader.
In 2019 and 2023, our people voted on who would join these pathways as future leaders. In this way, we can make sure that these future leaders have the skills they need to succeed with additional training, coaching and support.
No matter where you start, your role at Happy will evolve, ensuring continuous growth and new challenges, as you can see from some of the staff stories here.
“I am an account manager at Happy. My initial role was in our IT skills department (Happy Computers) for about a year, before moving into our Leadership and Personal Development department (Happy People). In 2019, I was voted to be one of Happy’s future leaders as one of Happy’s people managers. My role has also evolved to supporting with HR, looking after our HR policies, procedures and initiatives, and doing the finances for my team.”
Every member of staff receives a £500 budget for work-related learning, and we encourage you to use it! This can be spent on any training or learning materials that will help you to grow in your role, without the need to ask permission first.
Everyone also receives a £250 personal development budget to spend on any learning activities not related to their role. This could be spent on learning a language or a new skill, encouraging a mindset of lifelong learning.
In addition, everyone can attend any of Happy’s courses free-of-charge, or receive free 1-to-1 executive coaching from our coaching team.
To promote a culture of continuous improvement, we conduct three snapshot meetings annually. These one-to-one meetings are designed to help you take ownership of your development, discuss your progress, set new radical disruptions, and ensure you are achieving all you want to
“I have worked at Happy since 2001. I started as a trainee trainer, and moved on to a senior trainer. I then got involved in doing vocational qualifications, which gave me more of a long-term relationship with learners. I enjoyed this a lot more, as when you’re a trainer, you only see someone for the day – you don’t see their development. When apprenticeships became available more widely, I transitioned and started the apprenticeship department, and I am now Apprenticeship Director.”
Happy’s action groups are a group of people from across the business, brought together to deliver a pre-agreed outcome. Action groups are created by anyone around a topic of a shared interest or passion, and anyone can choose to join any action group.
Some of our action groups include:
“One of the highlights of working at Happy is the variety in my role. I am part of a few different action groups (or projects) outside of my main role, which keeps my job interesting. I get to collaborate with people from different departments, and really enjoy being able to learn from others across the organisation.”
“I have worked at Happy for 16 years – I started on our reception, welcoming people to our training centre and answering the phones, and in my time here I have worked in many different areas – including customer service, HR and salaries, account management, and writing and submitting bids for tenders.”
“At the moment, my core role is as an Account Manager – I work with clients from their initial enquiry to find the right learning solution for their needs, and support them with the logistics of their projects.”
“I lead our Sustainability Action Group, which is working on making Happy as environmentally sustainable as possible. I’m also a part of the Psychological Safety Action Group, and am currently working on a project to review and improve our Parental Leave policy, so prospective and existing parents at the company are fully supported.”
“I work with a team from across the business to run our annual Open Day, where new and prospective clients are welcomed to Happy for free taster sessions, so they can experience our training for themselves to see how effective and engaging it is.”
Sheena, Apprenticeship Director
Does this sound like a company you’d be proud to work for?
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