How expressing gratitude can brighten up your job and life, and how to go about it

The first thing Alison Jones does when she wakes up is name three things she is grateful for. It can be as simple as the breeze from a fan or as meaningful as the way a friend showed up for her emotionally. Jones, an organisational development consultant, says the daily practice has helped her through hardships and the anxiety and vulnerability of starting her own business as a single mother. “When you practise gratitude, you train your brain to always look for the positive in anything. It just completely shifts everything you’re going through,” she says. “You start to see the lessons in the pain. You start to see the beauty in the very difficult times because you realise, ‘Hey, I’m growing stronger.’” Practising and encouraging gratitude can be a simple way to boost morale at a time when lay-offs and economic uncertainty are causing stress and anxiety. Some employers have found that workers who receive expressions of gratitude show more engagement and willingness to help others. Other proponents say expressing and receiving appreciation can help reduce stress, as well as improve a person’s mood and outlook. But despite its benefits, promoting gratefulness is often overlooked as a valuable way to spend time and resources in the workplace. Below, experts in organisational change share ways to incorporate more gratitude into the workday. Start small If you are new to practising gratitude, you can start at home with a routine such as Jones’ custom of expressing gratitude before getting out of bed. She made her gratitude practice easy so it would become a sustainable habit. Her one rule is avoiding repetition, so that she stretches her mind to find new things to be grateful for each day. Jones also recommends finding a “gratitude buddy” to share with. A buddy may be a friend from work or your social circles, and ideas can be exchanged in person, by text or email, or during a phone call. Many people find it helpful to list what they are grateful for in a journal. Cultivating gratitude in the workplace At work, a team leader can begin a staff meeting by expressing gratitude for what went well in the last week, suggests Peter Bonanno, a New York-based consultant who helps companies design mindfulness-based programmes. As humans, we often have a bias toward negativity, but gratitude “just does an enormous amount to shift people’s mindsets and the way they engage with each other”, he says. “Gratitude is especially powerful in that way. It doesn’t take a long time for people to notice an impact.” OC Tanner Institute, a software and services company, helps organisations find effective ways to show appreciation to their employees, such as managers giving handwritten notes of thanks. The company helped an airline develop a system for managers and colleagues to recognise good work with points that can be applied to a catalogue order. It also helped a marketer of health, beauty and home-care products create gift boxes to celebrate workers’ accomplishments and important personal milestones, such as buying a home or adopting a child. “Recognition impacts so many facets of the employee experience. And when you do it well, it connects people back to a deep sense of purpose and meaning,” said Meghan Stettler, a director at OC Tanner. Recognising frontline workers Some companies donate their own products to thank nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters and other workers who serve their communities. Frontline Builders, a non-profit organisation launched during the pandemic, connects donors of snacks, drinks and personal-care items with recipients. “We’ve all worked in that job where we weren’t shown gratitude and realised how much that stinks,” said Jason Lalak, partnership director at Frontline Builders. “Showing someone gratitude or showing appreciation doesn’t really cost anything, and shouldn’t be that difficult a thing, and yet it’s rarer than it should be.” Registered nurse Denise Wittsell remembers how quiet the hospital where she works became during the pandemic. The hallways, typically busy with families and guests, were suddenly empty as visits from outsiders were curtailed and patients battled illnesses alone. Once in a while, someone from the community would deliver gifts of gratitude: tasty snacks or handmade cards from schoolchildren. “Those spontaneous recognitions were really sweet,” Wittsell said. “It just felt really kind, and it felt like there was a lot of wrapping around us, a very supportive feeling.” Taking it further Wittsell is part of a team of volunteers at Denver Health’s Restore programme, which connects front-line hospital workers with trained peer responders for confidential emotional support. The hospital, in the US state of Colorado, started the programme as a way to improve and sustain the emotional well-being of its workforce, said Tia Henry, the programme’s director. Volunteers take shifts so that someone is available around the clock to answer calls from hospital personnel who are struggling with stressful events such as losing a patient or witnessing violence. Volunteers and staff regularly express gratitude for the programme, Henry said. “I’ve had calls on my way to work: ‘I’m having a hard time and I need to talk with somebody who gets it,’” Wittsell said. “It’s a good way to give back to the people that I work with.” Aside from peer support, Restore also provides training and education to employees about stress, burnout and techniques to de-escalate violence, Henry said. “We’re not doing counselling or therapy, but we’re using components of psychological first aid to truly engage with our teammates when they’re distressed, helping them calm their nervous system and get back to the place of regulation where they can show back up and do what they need to do, or they can lay something down and go back home.” Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also sign up for our eNewsletter here.

How expressing gratitude can brighten up your job and life, and how to go about it

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Voicing your gratitude daily, writing it down in a journal, or finding a ‘gratitude buddy’ can train your brain to look for the positive in anything

Voicing your gratitude daily, writing it down in a journal, or finding a ‘gratitude buddy’ can train your brain to look for the positive in anything