Gratitude at work reduces materialism
Researchers in Chile released a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health this week confirming that gratitude at work (not my company, but the actual idea) reduces workplace materialism.
Workplace materialism is the tendency to focus on external rewards or aspirations—things like money, fame, image. This should cause us to wonder about creating incentives like bonuses and perks because materialism at work translates into lower levels of job satisfaction, engagement and increase feelings of job insecurity and intention to leave.
Gratitude at work on the other hand, helps reduce workplace materialism and increases the importance of intrinsic rewards such as self-development, affiliation and community participation. And we also know that being grateful is associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, generosity, happiness, wellbeing, energy, optimism, social connections and much more.
Researchers found that over a 6 month period higher levels of gratitude at work were directly related to lower levels of materialism at work—this applied to the people as their gratitude changed over time as well as for an individual whose gratitude varies from what is typical for them.
To boot, the researchers recommend that workplaces introduce gratitude interventions (sounds remedial doesn’t it?) to help socialize and introduce the idea of gratitude at work. This is critical because from other research we know that 60% of people express gratitude at work 2 or fewer times per year—wow !
It’s no rocket science but my critical thinking question for you is,
“How can I introduce more gratitude at work ?”
PS: I Iove that the latest gratitude research is based on my company name
