Driving growth through employee happiness

Hey ??

Next up in our Pivot Sessions we’ve been looking at the role employee happiness can play in scaling your business, and earlier this week we had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Clarke , co-founder of the innovative software company Secret Sauce.

Richard shared his journey from teaching, to managing IT teams in India, to ultimately starting Secret Sauce.

His aim?

To transform the conventional IT outsourcing model by focusing not just on skills but on team happiness and collaboration.

The Genesis of Secret Sauce

The idea came from his days managing dispersed teams where it became clear that having the best talent didn’t necessarily guarantee the best outcomes. This led him to the hypothesis that happiness and team synergy were key missing pieces in the puzzle of creating great software.

In 2014, he started Secret Sauce with a simple but powerful idea: happy teams produce better work.

The Experimentation with Happiness

Initially, Richard admitted to underestimating the complexity of fostering true happiness.

"At first, we thought it was easy — offer a good salary, some perks like free breakfasts, and comfortable office spaces, and you're set," he chuckled.

However, a survey a few years in revealed that despite feeling happy, half of the team couldn’t see themselves at the company long-term due to unclear career paths and growth opportunities.

This feedback was a wake-up call that led to a 100s of experiments aimed at truly understanding what makes employees happy and engaged.

They ranged from the simplistic, to the more strategic, such as restructuring project management to foster long-term client relationships and provide clearer career trajectories.

Richard shared some of the successes and learnings along the way:

• One memorable success was the simple relocation of the coffee machine, which fostered unexpected social interactions and stronger team bonds.
• On the flip side, an attempt to use daily online games to connect remote workers during the pandemic fell flat.

Embedding Happiness as a KPI

A significant pivot came when Secret Sauce shifted its business model in response to their realisation that both employee and client happiness were crucial for sustained growth.

This involved moving away from short-term projects to longer engagements, which improved team satisfaction and client relationships.

"Employee happiness isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential, and it needs to be treated with the same rigour and focus as sales or operations," Richard emphasised.

His approach is straightforward yet systematic: measure happiness regularly, discuss the findings openly, and adjust strategies as necessary.

The Future of Work with Happiness at the Core

Looking ahead, Richard has stepped back from day-to-day operations to focus on sharing his wealth of knowledge to help more organisations unlock workplace happiness.

He runs workshops and shares his insights through a popular blog, helping other companies implement strategies that foster a joyful and productive work environment.

Richard’s journey underscores a powerful lesson for all businesses, especially those in the scaling phase:

Investing in employee happiness is not just about creating a pleasant workplace but about building a resilient, innovative, and ultimately more successful business.

Next up in The Pivot Session series ??

Super excited to be speaking with Gemma Stuart from Gutsy Health. From life changes to packaging changes, Gemma is a wealth of knowledge for every entrepreneur and startup founder.

Join me next Tuesday @ 12pm.

?? Sign up here ??

Catch you on the next Power up!

Lucy ??