Things To Know About… Gratitude & The Workplace

What impact can an ‘attitude of gratitude’ really have? When can it tip over into ‘toxic positivity’? How can you make gratitude part of your workplace culture? Our resident gratitude guides KAREN ABBS and LEANNE MAREGA explore this and more…

Gratitude is an emotion, but it’s also an action. It’s the feeling of appreciation for the good things going on in life beyond one’s self: the people, places, things and experiences that bring hope and that nurture yourself or others. But it’s also taking time to acknowledge and communicate this appreciation to yourself and to others. 

It has measurable benefits. It might not surprise you that gratitude can help increase your happiness and wellbeing, and reduce stress and anxiety too. But did you know it can also improve your sleep quality and immune system? It can also strengthen relationships, make people kinder, and increase resilience in the face of challenges.

An attitude of gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring the bad stuff. When people feel pressured to deny negative emotions, this is called toxic positivity. This can be especially harmful at work, where employees may be under pressure to maintain a positive attitude even if they feel overwhelmed or stressed.

It’s about seeing the world more clearly. Bad things happen in the world all the time, and are often the focus of 24/7 news and social media. But to get a fuller, clearer picture of the world, we need to notice and appreciate the good things going on too. Gratitude means looking at things from different angles, better appreciating them, and better understanding them.

Gratitude helps us see our life, and the world around us, in a more positive light. If your work culture is one in which people are more likely to focus on problems, then it’s harder to notice what’s working well. And you can’t build on what’s going well, unless you first recognise it.

It needs to be a conscious choice. As a species we’ve evolved to scan for danger – we’re naturally attuned to spot the negatives. So even for the most optimistic amongst us, we need to choose it every day. For example the “Three Good Things” exercise asks people to write down three things that went well for them each day, and to reflect on why each good one happened. It’s a go-to technique in the therapist’s toolkit, as it has been shown to increase psychological wellbeing and lower depressive symptoms.

It can be a helpful tool when you hit a stumbling block in life or work. By taking a break and choosing to find small or big things for which you are grateful, it can help change your internal dialogue, and help you see new possibilities. Researcher Robert Emmons talks about how this creates “psychological immunity” – in other words a resilience to change, crisis and stress. Coaching or Counselling can help you develop this immunity.

When staff show gratitude to each other, they feel more valued. And this impacts how they behave at work. One study found that 93% of employees who felt valued were more motivated to do their best at work. We know this from our work with clients: when staff feel valued, their morale, engagement and performance are all higher. If you’d like to better understand your organisation’s culture – where you are now, and where you would like to be – then check out our Culture Discovery work.

If you’re a leader or manager, incorporate gratitude into your everyday work. Acknowledge and thank your staff, and ask them what they are grateful for as well. You can do this at the start of a meeting, or the end of the week. And if you’d like some help thinking through how to do this in a way that feels authentic to you and your organisation, then you can explore Leadership Coaching with us.

You might not be a leader or manager, but you can still make a difference to your workplace culture. If you voice gratitude at work – about people, interactions, tasks, achievements – over time people will start to appreciate this. You will make an impact.

If you’d like to explore what gratitude could bring to your life and work, consider Coaching or Leadership Coaching with us.