Explore the importance of celebrating teams and organizational values
Discover the power of workplace culture, kindness, and values, navigating new ways of working, embracing random acts of kindness and gratitude, promoting social distancing kindness, and fostering workplace community through giving and shared experiences. Learn how these aspects contribute to employee happiness, engagement, and overall success in the modern workplace.
Celebrating Teams and Organizational Values
Understand the significance of celebrating teams and organizational values in fostering a positive work environment. Discover creative ways to incorporate appreciation, connection, and shared joy into your workplace culture. From welcoming new employees with a memorable first impression to organizing team-building activities and recognizing achievements, find inspiration to create a culture that values teamwork and upholds organizational values.
Navigating New Ways of Working
Explore the challenges and opportunities presented by new ways of working, including remote and hybrid work models. Learn strategies to ensure equal attention and appreciation for all employees, regardless of their location. Embrace technology to facilitate communication and collaboration, establish clear expectations, and provide support to remote workers. Adapt your leadership style and embrace flexibility to navigate the evolving work landscape successfully.
Random Acts of Kindness and Gratitude
Embrace the power of random acts of kindness and gratitude in the workplace. Discover the origins of this movement and learn how small gestures can have a lasting impact on employee morale and well-being. Encourage acts of kindness such as showing appreciation, offering help, or providing support to colleagues. Foster a culture of gratitude through regular expressions of thanks, recognition programs, and encouraging positive interactions among team members.
Share Socially Distanced Kindness
Explore the importance of kindness during the month of February and beyond. Discover ways to show compassion, appreciation, and kindness to colleagues, promoting a positive work environment and strengthening relationships. From organizing virtual team-building activities to creating opportunities for virtual volunteering or supporting colleagues’ personal well-being, find practical ideas to promote kindness and connection while respecting social distancing measures.
Cultivating Workplace Community Through Giving and Shared Experiences
Understand the value of workplace community and the benefits of volunteering and giving back as a team. Learn how shared experiences and acts of giving can foster employee engagement, happiness, and a sense of belonging. Encourage team members to participate in community service projects, organize charitable initiatives, or engage in team-building activities that promote collaboration and a sense of purpose. Foster a culture of generosity and create opportunities for employees to connect through shared experiences.
Unlock the potential of workplace culture, kindness, and values to create a thriving and positive work environment. Celebrate teams and organizational values, navigate new ways of working, embrace random acts of kindness and gratitude, promote social distancing kindness, and foster workplace community through giving and shared experiences. Discover how these aspects contribute to employee happiness, engagement, and overall success. Learn practical strategies and gain inspiration to create a workplace culture that prioritizes kindness, values, and a sense of community.
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Celebrating Teams and Organizational Values
Photo by Spikeball on Unsplash
When leaders understand the importance of celebrating teams and organizational values, important messages resonate beyond an “event.” There are many opportunities to bring people together to underscore that your business is about people and values, not just work and the bottom line.
We’re in a time of heightened pressure to recruit and retain happy, committed employees and this big-picture thinking is critical. Here are a wide variety of ways you can incorporate “celebrating teams and organizational values” into your workplace. We hope this sparks inspiration for gifts of connection, belonging and shared joy.
Give the Gift of Connection
- Welcome new employees with a memorable first impression. Schedule coffee or lunch with the head of the company on their first day at work.
How to Navigate New Ways of Working
Photo by Ali Bakhtiari on Unsplash
NEWS ALERT: The work world has shifted. Priorities have changed, hybrid and remote working has become status quo, and flexibility is key. Collectively, we are figuring out how to navigate new ways of working.
What’s really keeping HR people up at night is how to RETAIN talented and hardworking staff. If we thought retention was important before, we have a tighter grip now. But what is the secret sauce to keeping employees happy, healthy and gainfully employed by you? Appreciation and recognition go a long way. Here are some ways to navigate new ways of working:
Pay attention equally to employees regardless of their location.
With a shift to remote and hybrid workplaces, it is important to “spread the love” to those who may be working elsewhere. “Out of sight, out of mind” is the wrong approach. Be sure to show appreciation equally for people across town or the globe. (more…)
Randoms Acts of Kindness and Gratitude
We honor Random Acts of Kindness Week every February (Feb. 13-19 this year) to celebrate small acts of goodwill. We all know that every day is a good day to build workplace gratitude through kindness. But how often do you think about random acts of kindness? How often do you actually do it? It’s a great reminder that little gestures go a long way.
Where Did Random Acts of Kindness Begin?
The phrase “random acts of kindness,” is believed to have been coined by the writer Anne Herbert in the early 1980s. Apparently, she scribbled on a restaurant placemat, “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase uses language of war (“senseless acts of violence”) in a call for the opposite.
(more…)Share Socially Distanced Kindness
February is the month of love and kindness. While some people thoroughly enjoy the multitude of candy hearts, red roses and pink teddy bears, others would rather skip right through to March. But February is much more than Valentine’s Day – it’s the month of kindness! Take advantage of this time to show compassion and share kindness with colleagues at work. We all need a little extra appreciation these days.
We admire the work that the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has been doing for years. February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness day and this year’s theme is Explore the Good which is the perfect mindset for 2021. They have a plethora of ideas, tips, inspiring quotes, materials like posters and calendars and even dedicated workplace materials. Check it out! Consider becoming a RAKtivist® (short for ‘Random Acts of Kindness activist).
(more…)Twitter Chat with CEO Meghan M. Biro
Join Us on the #WorkTrends Twitter Chat this Wednesday at 1:30 pm EST
Our CMO, Liz King, recently spoke with Talent Culture rock star Meghan M. Biro about the importance of workplace gratitude on this week’s #WorkTrends Podcast.
You can read Meghan’s Blog and listen to the podcast here: “#WorkTrends: The Power of Workplace Gratitude with Liz King“.
We highly recommend listening if you are trying to get ideas to improve your workplace. Whether you are a CEO, HR, or office manager.
We hope you’ll join us for this Twitter Chat or listen to the podcast anytime!
The Power of Workplace Gratitude
Gratitude in our personal and professional lives is a trending topic these days, but when we first introduced our popular ebook, Transforming Your Workplace With Gratitude, in 2013 we were in the vanguard of the workplace gratitude movement as it relates to company culture and employee engagement.
Sharing new information related to this fascinating topic through our publications and blog has long been a priority. In the face of the worldwide pandemic, gratitude is again a popular topic. Be sure to check out our recent post, “Pandemic Makes Workplace Gratitude More Important than Ever”.Since its introduction, our eBook on workplace gratitude has been a helpful guide for companies, large and small, as they learned to embrace an attitude of gratitude. Over the last five years, research has underscored the power of gratitude in our lives.
This growing body of research demonstrates that companies that make an effort to appreciate employees are among the most successful, most innovative companies in the world and have the highest rates of employee satisfaction and retention. (more…)2020: Year of Workplace Kindness & Gratitude
Is it a coincidence that the year begins with holidays focusing on kindness and gratitude … perhaps to help us keep the heartfelt feelings from December alive?
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February brings Valentine’s Day on the 14th and Random Acts of Kindness Day on the 17th while March opens with Employee Appreciation Day on the first Friday of the month. But rather than reserving these sentiments for certain days or weeks, why not carry them forward and make kindness and gratitude a year-round practice in the workplace?Focusing on Gratitude Adds Meaning to Holidays
From “The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series”, author Melody Beattie. As we approach celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends, this quote from Melody Beattie beautifully reminds us of the transformative power of gratitude at the holidays – and every day.
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Beattie knows about the transformative power of gratitude having survived a traumatic childhood, addiction and the loss of a child but emerging from this to live a a full and rewarding life. After having an epiphany in rehab that got her to focus her energies on “the right things,” she became a renowned self-help author (she literally wrote the book on codependency, followed by many other bestsellers) and remains a celebrated writer and an inspiring beacon for many struggling with addiction and grief. The daily meditations on her website (or apps) are a good way to start or end your day!Secrets to Being a Great Place to Work
An insightful Forbes article described culture as the backbone of a happy workforce. That’s a great metaphor because a positive company culture favorably impacts recruitment, increases job satisfaction, inspires collaboration, boosts morale and reduces stress. It’s the secret to being a great place to work. A referenced Deloitte study examining core beliefs and culture revealed there’s a link between employees who say they are “happy at work” and feel “valued by their company” and those who say their organization has a clearly articulated and lived culture.Speaking of culture, cultureIQ gathered their “favorite culture and employee engagement statistics” into one handy spot. Their statement about the impact of culture is a strong reminder that:Being a Good Citizen is Good for Business
Being a Good Citizen Is Good for Employers and Workers
Being a good citizen is good for business — in more than one way. Last year, Harvard Business Review reported on the beneficial effects when employees engage in “citizenship behaviors.” That’s another way to say going above and beyond: “helping out coworkers, volunteering to take on special assignments, introducing new ideas and work practices, attending non-mandatory meetings, putting in extra hours to complete important projects, and so forth.”
Research has found that employees who voluntarily demonstrate citizenship behaviors tend to find their work more meaningful. They also perform better and improve their companies’ performance, as well. For all of these reasons, smart employers want to encourage being a good citizen at their companies.
HBR’s recommendation is to promote “citizenship crafting,” or offering workers the opportunity to figure out how their own strengths and preferences can best be utilized to add value to the business. The idea is straightforward: When employees can help in ways they find personally satisfying and that align with their own values and goals, the help will be better and come more frequently. This is also a relief for managers, who don’t have to push so hard when extra help is needed. (more…)The Power of Shared Workplace Experiences
Community service is a great way to get your team out of the office and bond over a project that makes everyone feel better. (Photo via Rocco Rossi, Flickr)
Shared experiences among co-workers are instrumental when it comes to building strong and effective teams. Don’t forget to include remote workers when communicating, collaborating and creating shared experiences – they are an important part of your team too!
In an article on shared experiential learning on HR Dive, author Tess Taylor explains the basics:Employees benefit from having a common experience during the learning process. This social interaction helps individuals digest new concepts and gives them an opportunity to learn from each other.
In a Giving Culture, You Get a Lot Too
Creating a giving culture means learning how to take sometimes, too.
Companies with a giving culture are more successful.
They say it’s better to give than to receive. It turns out it could be way better!
Beloved Wharton School professor Adam Grant’s 2013 bestseller, Give and Take, used groundbreaking research to show that giving can have a revolutionary positive effect on all kinds of businesses. Givers are employees who help others regardless of whether they’re getting something in return. And the best-performing employees and leaders inevitably turn out to be givers. By taking steps to foster a giving culture, companies can significantly improve their productivity and efficiency, and their employee engagement and loyalty. One consulting firm estimated that implementing a giving culture saved it more than $250,000 and 50 workdays. A pharmaceutical company credited its giving culture with saving over $90,000 and 67 days of labor. (more…)Cultivating Workplace Community by Doing Good
When workplace volunteers come together it builds satisfaction, happiness and community engagement. Building workplace community is easy in the summer! Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
Summer is an opportune time to cultivate workplace community by volunteering in the community as a team. Just in the month of June alone there are two officially designated dates that you can celebrate: The United Way’s Day of Action 2018 which occurs on (or around) June 21 and United Nation’s Public Service Day on June 23. It’s always great to recognize the good work that your staff does in the workplace, but doing good outside the office is likely to boost happiness, improve engagement and build workplace spirit.Why Volunteering As A Team Is Valuable
A Huffington Post article exploring how workplace giving and volunteering can drive employee engagement explained that “prosocial” behavior, doing something for the benefit of someone else, positively affects the individuals participating in it, and in return, their workplaces.
(more…)Build Workplace Kindness With a Smile Day!
Spreading workplace kindness is as easy as hosting a “smile board”; this one thanks to Smile.oi for sharing!
National Smile Power Day is June 15th, but every day is the perfect day to fuel workplace kindness with more smiling! Studies have revealed the ways that simply smiling more can transform us and those around us. Smiling can help create a culture of kindness at work (and beyond). (more…)Civility in the Workplace: More Than Just ‘Being Nice’
Civility in the workplace grows through small, positive gestures. (Photo via Kate Ter Haar, Flickr)
Civility in the workplace is quickly becoming a topic of concern among HR leaders. The more it’s studied, the clearer it is that civility is not just a matter of “being nice.”
It’s an important part of everyday company culture.
The opposite of civility — incivility, or rudeness — is on the rise and has devastating consequences, we’re learning. Science Daily calls incivility in the workplace “the silent epidemic.”
New research shows that incivility, even a little bit, even when it’s not directed at you, can derail job performance. (more…)4 Inspiring Stories of Workplace Kindness
Be inspired to spread kindness in the workplace during and beyond Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 11-17)!
Kindness in the workplace is a big part of cultivating a happy, engaged workforce. What better time to celebrate it than this week during Random Acts of Kindness Week?
The theme of #RAKWeek2018 is “Who’s your one?” — as in, Who’s the person who starts the chain reaction of kindness in your life? Just one kind person can spread kindness across an entire team or community.
This year, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, a nonprofit organization started in 1995 in Denver, is inviting everyone to tell a story about “that one person who inspires you to be a better human being.” (more…)Workplace Gratitude in Action Helps Victims
What does workplace gratitude in action look like? Helping in the community in times of need, like these College of DuPage volunteers did recently. (Photo via College of DuPage, Flickr)
What does workplace gratitude in action look like?
In the aftermath of the devastating hurricanes Harvey and Irma, it looks like employees uniting to help those in need in their community — or even thousands of miles away.
Workplace volunteerism is a powerful way to build teamwork skills, engage employees, increase generosity and make a difference. Increasingly, opportunities to engage with and give back to the community are what employees (and potential employees) expect.
People want to work for a company they can believe in, that aligns with their values. (more…)Workplace Benefits: Perfect for Back-to-School
Make it easy for employees to adapt to back-to-school routines with flexible workplace benefits. (Photo via U.S. Department of Agriculture, Flickr)
It’s back-to-school time! Are you engaging employees with flexible workplace benefits — benefits that ease the transition from summer vacation to the demands and routines of the start of school?
Flexible workplace benefits consider employee experience in practical ways that help employees manage work-life balance.
“Employee experience” is a relatively new concept in HR. As author and futurist Jacob Morgan writes for Inc., it works best in tandem with employee engagement.
“By combining employee engagement and experience to work together, organizations can build an environment where employees feel valued,” Morgan writes.
(more…)What’s Trending in Workplace Gratitude?
What’s trending? More workplace gratitude! (Image via FutUndBeidl, Flickr)
As the value of workplace gratitude gets more recognition, leaders are exploring its impact and studying how to better implement it.
The power of a positive, appreciation-driven culture is clear.
Employees at organizations with positive cultures scored significantly higher scores in leadership caring, confidence and listening, a CultureIQ poll found. (more…)How Organizational Storytelling Boosts Loyalty
How do you tell the story of your company? Organizational storytelling is key to better employee retention. (Photo via ITU Pictures, Flickr)
Data, numbers, graphs and percentages only go so far in engaging with employees and customers. Organizational storytelling fills in the gaps and actually connects with people. It provides the emotional context for why the organization does what it does.
Tony Hsieh, CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos, has “a mental pantry of stories at his ready” to explain his company and business philosophies, according to Chief Executive magazine.
“It’s possible for a leader to have a grand vision, but it’s not possible to turn that vision into reality unless countless others adopt it as their own and work tirelessly in concert to achieve it,” Chief Executive’s Bill Baker writes.
Inspiring others requires good storytelling. (more…)