Time Required
Up to five minutes per act of kindness. Carry out five acts of kindness for other people at work within one day, and try this once a week for four weeks.
How to Do It
- Take a moment to write down the names of five people at or related to work and a small act of kindness you could do for them. Choose things that feel comfortable and authentic to you, like bringing someone a beverage, cheering up a coworker who seems to be having a bad day, or emailing a thank-you note.
- Do the five acts that you listed, each for a different person, over the course of a day.
- Try doing this one day per week for a month.
- After completing your acts of kindness, notice any impact at work. Do people seem happier? Do people “pay it forward” and perform acts of kindness toward others?
Why You Should Try It
Workplaces are complex social environments that require coordination and teamwork. Performing acts of kindness can make you and others feel good and happier at work. People who feel happy at work tend to help others more, have more career success, and perform better at their jobs. For example, sales teams who gave their teammates bonuses were more productive than sales teams who received bonuses individually from leadership.
This practice encourages more kindness at work by starting with you practicing acts of kindness and then observing the ripple effects that might have.
Why It Works
Researchers have studied “social contagion” effects (the spontaneous spread of behaviors, emotions, attitudes, or beliefs through a group) in economics games, where participants who are helped by another are more likely to give money to a stranger. Similarly, kindness can be contagious while offering its own benefits to the giver. For example, acts of kindness can provide the giver a sense of meaning in life and activate the brain’s reward system.
Evidence That It Works
Chancellor, J., Margolis, S., Bao, K. J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2018). Everyday prosociality in the workplace: The reinforcing benefits of giving, getting, and glimpsing. Emotion, 18(4), 507–517.
In a Spanish multinational corporation, employees were assigned to either perform acts of kindness for coworkers, receive acts of kindness, or just go to work as usual. Those who performed kind acts reported increases in well-being, feeling more satisfied with their lives and their jobs and showing lower depressive symptoms over time. Employees who received acts of kindness reported increases in happiness. Most notably, coworkers who merely observed kindness also improved in well-being. The study found that receivers paid their acts of kindness forward with 278% more kind and helpful behaviors than the group without a kindness assignment, suggesting that workplace kindness can spread through social networks rather than remaining limited to direct participants.
How kind and generous are you? Take our Altruism quiz to find out.
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The Greater Good Toolkit
Made in collaboration with Holstee, this tookit includes 30 science-based practices for a meaningful life.
The Greater Good Toolkit
Made in collaboration with Holstee, this tookit includes 30 science-based practices for a meaningful life.