When I joined Work.Life just two months ago, I was drawn by a mission that felt beautifully simple yet endlessly complex: to make work life happy.
Those four words have meaning that runs far deeper than the physical spaces we create. They’re a blueprint for how we lead, how we communicate, how we design systems, and how we take care of our people.
So my first 60 days have been about alignment — ensuring that the culture we offer our members is mirrored in the experience of our own team. Because to truly model happiness at work, we must build it from the inside out.
One of the first shifts we made was launching Heka, our new benefits platform.
What I love about Heka is how personal it is. It recognises that wellbeing is not one-size-fits-all, what restores one person might drain another. Instead of traditional, rigid benefits, Heka allows every team member a flexible allowance to spend on what genuinely supports their health, happiness, or growth. And Work.Life is a leading employer with a very generous allowance for our team! For one person that might be yoga classes, for another, language learning or a weekend retreat.
Operationally, it’s also a win. Heka’s integration slashed the administrative workload for our People and Finance teams, freeing us to focus less on processing reimbursements and more on creating meaningful experiences.
It’s a platform that represents both ‘Don’t stop at good’ and ‘It’s personal’, two of our values, in action.
Next came our Pension Salary Sacrifice scheme.
It might sound technical, but this is one of those small, structural decisions that signals care for our people. By allowing team members to contribute through salary sacrifice, we help them save on National Insurance while also boosting their long-term financial wellbeing. It’s a better, more efficient way to plan for the future and an example of how People policies can be both practical and empathetic.
Financial security is an often-overlooked part of happiness at work. But real wellbeing includes the freedom to plan confidently for the years ahead. By the way, through Heka our people can also get free 1:1 financial advise and that’s just amazing in today’s day and age.
We also launched Teamtailor, our new Applicant Tracking System, alongside a completely rebuilt Careers Site.
Teamtailor is one of the most human-centred recruitment systems available. It gives candidates a transparent, simple, and visually engaging experience, while giving our hiring managers powerful tools to collaborate, review, and make fairer decisions.
Bias reduction is built into the process, anonymised candidate screening, structured stages, and clear scoring frameworks. For us, this means every decision we make about who joins Work.Life is rooted in values and capability!
The new Careers Site mirrors this philosophy. It showcases not just our roles but our purpose and people, giving future candidates a clear window into what Work Happiness means here.
Together, these tools help us live our value of ‘Own it’, taking accountability for building equitable pathways into our business.
Starting a new job is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. To make those early days smoother and more supported, we launched our Role Transition 30/60/90 Framework.
This framework gives clarity on what success looks like at each stage, for both the new starter and their manager. It creates shared checkpoints to celebrate progress, address challenges early, and align expectations before they drift.
What I love most is that it’s not just a form to fill in, it’s a human conversation based on real actionable role expectations. It invites reflection, mutual feedback, and emotional honesty about how the transition is really going.
It’s our way of saying: we want you to thrive here and empower you through your first 3 months, not just survive your probation and live in anxiety during it.
Another foundation piece has been our new Engagement Framework, a system for listening and acting in cycles, similar to product cycles.
Engagement isn’t about chasing scores for Work.Life, it’s about understanding patterns, responding thoughtfully, and helping people feel their voice shapes the workplace. Our framework sets out how we collect insight, how we communicate results, and most importantly, how we turn feedback into visible action.
It’s designed to evolve as we do, a living mechanism to keep us emotionally connected as we grow. One year we will have one set of questions, that display topics our people are most interested/engaged by and next year we will choose another set.
Beyond systems, we’ve also been nurturing the human glue that holds it all together.
We hosted our People Managers Quarterly, a dedicated space for our managers to learn, connect, and lead together. And we brought the whole company together at our Quarterly All-Hands, where we introduced the new People Roadmap, a six-month plan focusing on performance, growth, and cultural initiatives. This allows to practice transparency in both what we will do and how we will do it for our people.
Both of these rituals remind me how powerful it is when structure meets community. They create the visibility and connection that allow people to feel part of something bigger than their own role.
The past 60 days have reminded me that culture is a system. It’s the tools you choose, the way you onboard, the benefits you offer, and the care you put into everyday interactions. That is why in my new role as a Head of People and Culture, I am excited to be building those systems.
At Work.Life, we want our people to experience what we hope our members feel: that they are supported, trusted, and part of a company that genuinely wants them to flourish.
I’m proud of the work we’ve done so far. But more than that, I’m proud of how it feels – it’s satisfying to see the happy faces of my team members across departments, enjoying these new frameworks and launches!
Here’s to continuing to build a workplace where happiness at work can come to life.
Tailored solutions for growing teams
Adding 10 or more team members? That’s exciting — and we’re here to help! For teams like yours, we offer custom membership options designed to fit your needs perfectly.
Let us know some more information using the form below — we usually reply within an hour during business hours. Prefer to chat? Give us a call on 020 3349 8269 — we’d love to hear from you!