5 questions with Damien O’Neill of Advanced Technology Services UK Ltd

Damien O’Neill is Site Manager at Advanced Technology Services UK Ltd (ATS). ATS employs more than 3,000 people across the US, Mexico and the UK, and specialises in factory maintenance and IT services. Their company culture is centered around safety and continuous improvement, with their products winning multiple awards for innovation. We spoke to Damien to find out more about ATS and their culture, ahead of the 2017 Happy Workplaces Conference next month.

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1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

Outside of work, my passion is long distance cycling. In July I am cycling from London to Edinburgh and back – non-stop in under 116 hours!

2. What’s your top tip for creating a happy and engaged workplace?

Be open and honest with your team, good stuff and bad stuff.

3. Could you give me one example of how people responded to greater trust?

I will be talking about this at the conference – the outcome has been improved work/life balance, increased autonomy, less work for me and a significant reduction of cost to our customer.

4. What have you done to create a culture of trust at your organisation?

Constantly reassure the team that you trust them and give them space and support to make mistakes.

5. Could you give me an example of what you’ve done to give staff greater freedom and autonomy?

Again I will be talking about this at the conference – we have overcome some significant cultural issues in our industry to allow the team to have a much greater level of freedom in their working hours. This was achieved by telling them the issues, giving them the guidance and then getting out of the way!

Learn the 10 core principles to create a happy and productive workplace in Henry Stewart's book, The Happy Manifesto.

Support your aspiring and current managers to be empowering and confident leaders with Happy

Happy offers leadership programmes at Level 3, Level 5 and Level 7, from new managers/supervisor level all the way up to senior leadership teams and CEOs. These programmes are based on the ideas of trusting your people. They are practical and based on applying what yo’ve learnt. We aim to inspire and ignite change in your organisation, as well as giving you valuable management skills such as business strategy, decision-making, negotiation and project management.

We also offer programmes tailored specifically to people from Global Majority backgrounds. The content is the same, but have been designed to give new and experienced managers the skills they need to navigate organisational culture with a clearer perspective on their own potential, as well as building their confidence and expanding their professional strengths.

Claire Lickman

Claire is Head of Marketing at Happy. She has worked at Happy since 2016, and is responsible for Happy’s marketing strategy, website, social media and more. Claire first heard about Happy in 2012 when she attended a mix of IT and personal development courses. These courses were life-changing and she has been a fan of Happy ever since. She has a personal blog at lecari.co.uk.