Everyone Wants to be Appreciated: Showing Gratitude in the Workplace
Right now, you’re probably bombarded with posts on social media timelines all about gratitude and Thanksgiving. At the risk of being cliché during this time of thankfulness saturation, please allow me to jump on the gratitude bandwagon for a moment.
The Thanksgiving holiday serves as a perfect backdrop to prime ourselves for grateful thinking and creating a joyful attitude.
It’s easy to be thankful for our family and friends, we love them and they bring so much happiness and meaning to our lives but sometimes being thankful for our coworkers or employees isn’t quite easy and we can forget to share our gratitude. A normal workweek is usually forty, fifty and sometimes sixty hours because such a large portion of our time is spent at work so we should be grateful and thankful to those in our office! By bringing gratitude into the workplace, the entire culture of the office will shift. Gratitude is the greatest motivator for employees, even better than money. When employees feel appreciated, they’ll want to continue to work hard and go above and beyond in their assigned tasks and duties. Employees are more likely to stay with a company when they feel appreciated which reduces turnover and the additional expenses associated with hiring and training new employees.
Why should we be grateful at work? What do we get out of it? Well, simply put, showing your gratitude throughout the workplace, all year long, has many benefits for all parties involved.
Improved productivity. On the job satisfaction and motivation lead to a happier more effective team.
Stronger relationships between teams, customers, clients and vendors.
Improved well-being. Gratitude boosts dopamine, which helps decrease sick days, and increase overall happiness.
Increased career opportunities. Those relationships that are built can stimulate decision-making, networking, and self-efficacy.
Written By: Zaneta Padilla