by Jessica Santos

Thanksgiving is here and thankfulness is in the air! Everyone’s minds are probably on decorating pumpkins with the kids, watching football with their friends and sharing a delicious turkey with their family to commemorate the holiday. Although Thanksgiving is always celebrated at home, there’s no reason why you can’t bring the spirit of gratefulness into the workplace!

Expressing gratitude is great for everyone involved. It’s a no-brainer that people love to have their efforts recognized, but did you know that practicing gratitude reaps lots of benefits? Studies show that those who express gratitude tend to have less stress, better overall health, and better decision-making skills among many other great benefits. According to leading gratitude research Robert Emmons, Ph.D., this is because gratitude allows us to recognize the good in our lives and the source of that good.

Here are a few ways you can practice gratitude in the workplace for Thanksgiving and beyond:

• Pick up or brew the morning coffee for the office.
• Leave random, personalized thank you notes around the office for all of your employees.
• Take a few minutes at the beginning or end of meetings to do team shout outs.
• Encourage employees to be grateful for the lessons learned in difficult situations.
• Start a #gratitude campaign on your social accounts and let a few employees share what they’re thankful for.
• Keep a gratitude list near your desk and fill it out before heading home every day.
• House a company gratitude jar and read a few entries during company-wide or team/department-wide meetings.
• Make it a habit to directly thank everyone for their contributions to different projects.
• Collect items for a charitable cause and donate as a company.

Better yet, volunteer as a company to assist a local charity.

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Creating a culture of gratitude at work brings nothing but positive feelings for everyone involved. Keep in mind that people might give and receive gratitude in different ways. Some may respond better to verbal expressions of gratitude (like end-of-meeting shout outs) while others may see it better through acts of service (like making the morning coffee). You know your team best, so keep an eye out to see how you can thank them in a way that they’ll recognize it.

It’s also important to remember that gratitude should be intentional and purposeful. Forcing everyone to contribute to a gratitude jar every day isn’t the most productive way to start off gratitude culture. Instead, kick things off by leading from example. You may not even need to formally announce any new change. Being more generous with simple, “thank yous” can go a long way and your team will definitely recognize it.

ProFlowers created a guide to share all of the different ways you can practice gratitude not only at work but by yourself, with your special someone and with friends and family. Take a look and see what you can do to extend an attitude of gratitude in all aspects of your life.

How are you practicing gratitude this time of year? Tell us what you’re grateful for!

Photo: Courtney Hedger (Unsplash)