November Is National Gratitude Month. We Know More About Gratitude Than Ever Before, Most Interestingly That Gratitude Improves Physical And Mental Wellness, Sleep, And Mood For Those Bestowing Gratitude Upon Others, As Well As The Recipients Of That Appreciation.
Expressing gratitude can produce positive changes in your life, and deepen relationships, create healthy understanding, and develop deeper connections. It should come as no surprise, then, that expressing gratitude, and creating a “gratitude culture” in work environments can maximize employee satisfaction and improve productivity.
Gratitude In The Work Environment
In our work life, we have multiple encounters with others. There are management, people on our teams, vendors, service staff, even competitors… Hence, there are multiple opportunities to express gratitude. While a verbal “thank you” is always appreciated, there are more intentional habits you can model and implement into your company culture. Besides all the positive benefits of practicing gratitude in the workplace, it’s still not as commonplace as it should be.
According to an employee appreciation survey by Glassdoor, The Power of Employee Appreciation,
“53 percent of employees admit they would stay longer at their company if they felt more appreciation from their boss.”
Top Habits To Incorporate Gratitude
- Acknowledge the Good Things
Often teams meet for progress reports, recap the week, or to map out upcoming projects. It’s the perfect time to list the TOP FIVE good things about the week. Attached to the good things list should be the names of the team member(s) responsible. Don’t do weekly meetings? You can also do a written recap delivered via email to everyone.
2. Frequent Check Ins
Checking in often with team members and those that are “touching” your business is a fantastic way to foster an open environment where they can speak up and make suggestions, identify potential problems, or opportunities. It allows everyone to feel invested in their roles, to be heard and appreciated.
3. Valuing and Validating your Team Members’ Growth
It’s a wonderful investment of your time to ask each team member how they would like to grow and develop, and then take positive steps to help them achieve that. Funding additional training and recommending resources are one way to show appreciation for them and their development.
4. Model the Gratitude
As a leader, the most important thing you can do in all aspects of how you run your business, is to model the behavior you want to see in others. Your behavior sets the tone, and it’s truly infectious.
5. Finally, here are some very specific acts of gratitude that are appropriate for individuals and the entire team in a professional work environment. We suggest you consider the person before deciding on what is best. For instance, a shy person may not appreciate an over the top, highly public fiesta to celebrate their work anniversary or birthday.
- A Hand-Written Card
- Flowers (birthdays or work anniversary)
- Gift Baskets (tailored to the person’s hobbies or interests)
- A Catered Lunch
- Extra Time Off
- Gift Cards
Expressing and encouraging gratitude is a cornerstone for a positive, healthy company culture where team members want to give you their very best and stay around for the long haul!
At Peachtree VA, we do our very best to create a culture of gratitude. We would love to match you with the perfect VA to support your business. Please contact us today, and we promise to deliver the perfect VA for you and do a great job of expressing our gratitude!
