Exploring what it means to work with a sense of joy

This project aimed to introduce the concept of ​“Joy in Work” to a group of health care staff using a structured approach to help them to feel more deeply connected to what they do and why they do it.

In health care, Joy in Work refers to an approach that aims to improve the wellbeing and joy of staff, with a focus on four key areas:

1. encouraging collaboration
2. celebrating achievements
3. promoting a sense of comraderie and
4. focusing on work-life balance

Staff members involved in this project were part of these NHS organisations:

• East London Foundation Trust
• South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust and 
• Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Ultimately, the Joy in Work initiative aims to improve the quality of care for patients by creating a work culture that prioritises staff wellbeing. It is hoped this will help to reduce burnout, and provide tools and methods for improvement. The lessons of Joy in Work can foster a learning system across organisations.

Time for developing presentations

Members of the Joy in Work project team did not realise how much time was needed for planning. 

Delegates involved in some of the Joy in Work hosted events told the Q team that they would have appreciated more one to one support, as developing their presentations was more time consuming than they had appreciated.

Balancing clinical work with improvement

The Q team had requested that each delegate attend every session, if possible, as each session built on learning from the previous session. They found that delegates struggled to attend every session, owing to the demands of their ongoing work.

Co-created a process that drew on the diversity of the group

Delegates appreciated Q’s support and found that the process for sharing ideas and planning enhanced their overall experience of the programme.

The diversity of backgrounds, knowledge and approaches helped to enrich the discussions in the group.

Holding sessions fortnightly set a pace that delegates were able to sustain, helping to keep everyone engaged.

The diversity of backgrounds, knowledge and approaches helped to enrich the discussions in the group.

A QI session followed each fortnightly discussion, and delegates appreciated having the option of joining a discussion focused on improvement.

Produced high quality presentations

The creative process helped delegates to create good quality, high impact presentations on the subject of Joy in Work.

Set up effective engagement and communication

A WhatsApp group was set up which enabled delegates to engage in supportive, real-time communication.

Established a group of Joy in Work delegates

A key outcome of the programme has been that 11 delegates are open to becoming Joy in Work Champions.

The importance of becoming members of Q as early as possible

Not all delegates who signed on to the programme were members of Q. The team waited until the first session to suggest this, but on reflecting, they realised that it would be best if all delegates were encouraged to sign up to Q from the point at which they expressed interest in signing up.

The need for a flexible approach for those with ongoing clinical workloads

Delegates were not always able to attend every session owing to ongoing clinical work, so it was important that the team were able to work around this. They did this by recording the sessions and making the materials available for all delegates.

Offering an improved level of one to one support from the Joy in Work lead

The team will look to improve the level of support from Julia Wood for delegates when developing presentations to take back to their organisations, as this was a key piece of feedback.

Allow for long lead times for planning

It became clear to the team that they would need to build in longer lead times for development and planning of materials, such as presentations on Joy in Work.

Next steps

The project will be reviewed at three and six months to assess impact, with case studies shared where relevant.

Future plans include creating a Community of Practice, hosting monthly events, and sharing resources widely, with Julia Wood presenting at conferences.