Thoughtful Thursday

6 Tiny Ways to be Thoughtful at Work

Let us get this out of the way right now: You do not have to bake cupcakes. You do not have to run the office birthday calendar, volunteer to organize happy hour, or consistently pick up the slack for the same mysteriously absent coworker. Being too nice at work comes with a whole host of pitfalls — this isn’t about that.

This is about the fact that working in an office means working in relatively close quarters with a bunch of stressed-out people thrown together by circumstance, and that experience is generally more pleasant when people attempt to demonstrate some appreciation for the basic humanity of their fellow workers. Which you do already, obviously! We are all just doing the best we can in this life.

But since it is usually possible to be better at most things, here are six small things we could all be doing to be just a little bit kinder to the people who work with us, vent with us, and may someday endorse or vouch for us.

Invite people to grab lunch sometimes ...
Ask people about what is going on in their lives ...
Send Links ...
Restock things that are empty ...
Make introductions liberally ...
Notice when people are good at things ...