To what extent will your Employer Brand be shaped by a culture of kindness as we return to work?

On the surface of it, there appears very little to recommend Covid and the subsequent lockdowns. Our bread baking, pasta making and needlework skills may have been sharpened, our holiday-lite carbon footprint might be in a better place and our ingenuity with Zoom has never looked so masterful. That apart, lockdown and the literal and existential threat of the disease has been a dark, gloomy, spectral presence.

However, one other interesting outcome of our experiences since March, has been a general outpouring of kindness. A kindness which has come in all shapes and sizes.

Last Friday, for example, witnessed World Kindness Day and a whole range of impressive associated initiatives. I’ve been watching with interest the various Kind Fest’s taking off. We’ve seen a Premier League footballer, in the shape of Marcus Rashford, single-handedly forcing the hand of Government over child poverty. He’s now extended his efforts in this field by setting in motion the establishment of a reading club. We’ve seen the slightly less fleet of foot, but no less effective, Colonel Tom Moore raising significant amounts for the NHS. We’ve clapped our hands raw for the same NHS. No fewer than 600,000 of us signed up to be NHS Voluntary Responders. 

We see the BeKind hashtag everywhere. On that very subject, Global Leaders in Law has just has published a ‘Be Kind’ report, which makes the point that: “Kindness is a key component of an inspirational leader’s toolkit to create an engaged and productive workforce”.

Grazia, not an information source I’ve hitherto made extensive use of, produced research in the summer which suggested that 80% of us were experiencing a heightened sense of community. 63% of the survey had experienced acts of kindness from a family member and 26% from a stranger. The research was part of an overall campaign to generate 10,000 such acts of kindness by mid-October. 

There’s no greater seasonal barometer than the year’s John Lewis ad, which focuses, this time around, on kindness and each of our roles in the broader community. 

Researching the subject, I came across an evocative descriptor from Australian psychologist, Lea Waters, who positioned Covid kindness as ‘an emotional Mexican wave’. This sense of kindness creating ripples in its own like was confirmed by a piece of research from the University of California just two years ago. 

The research centred on a study of the Coca Cola factory in Madrid. Certain employees were designated the role of providing acts of kindness, others with that of receiving such acts, whilst others again formed the control group. Those benefitting from random acts of kindness began spontaneously paying forward such actions nearly three times more frequently than they were actually receiving them. Perhaps not surprisingly, this group were happier after two months of the study. More interestingly, those providing the acts of kindness were more satisfied with their lives and jobs. 

From a corporate perspective, there have truly been some organisations which have risen to the challenge. The likes of the Co-op, Unilever and, my own favourite, Timpsons, take a bow. 

And there’s a sense that such organisations are not purely doing this for altruistic reasons. Demonstrating corporate kindness and having a business to run are not mutually exclusive. However much, though, we attempt to push cynicism and scepticism to one side, there is always likely to be a feeling that such initiatives are the right thing to do for everything bar the bottom line.

Not so, according to a 2015 research study from the Association of Professional Executive of the Public Service of Canada. This concluded that acts of kindness “had profound implications on the level of energy, emotional engagement and performance of work teams”. Specifically, it found that teams benefitting from acts of kindness in a respectful environment possessed 26% more energy, were 44% more committed to their employer and 30% more motivated about new ideas.

As and when we return to more employment confidence, where people feel more inclined to seek alternative options, how will workplace kindness be rewarded? 

A fascinating piece of research from Hall & Partners and the Said Business School from the autumn, and conducted amongst 1,500 employees around the world, hinted at the impact kindness can have on the employee experience and employer brand an organisation provides. 58% of the survey believed that the kind actions taken by their company during this crisis has made them want to stay for longer than they originally planned.

But if we are analysing organisations, colleagues and behaviours through a kindness lens, how sustainable will that be? We need the answers to a number of questions.

So, to what extent do we anticipate that a general take-up in kindness will survive a vaccine-inspired return to the workplace? When activity levels increase, will our consideration and perception of kindness survive? Will we revert to type? Worse, will kindness be viewed as the preserve of the weak? How does taking the time to be kind appear on a timesheet? 

“I’ve seen some really good examples from one of my previous employers around small acts of kindness in the workplace.  From sending little care packages to simple thank you’s.  I think these are very powerful and I don’t feel that they should stop just because lockdown is over.  Why not keep recognising your fellow colleagues in this way?  As workforces are becoming more disparate and remote, it’s a great way of forging community”, Julie Griggs, Greenhill HR and Talent.

Do we think examples of kindness will be acknowledged and rewarded within a working environment? As working cultures are being re-framed during a gradual return – and a return to an old normal is unlikely to play well for many employees – how much will kindness feature? If it’s not already, will it become a lived, sustainable value or behaviour inside organisations? Will employers actively take demonstrable actions to ensure that kindness becomes part of the desired culture within their organisation? 

Which workplace behaviours might we characterise as kindness?

Interestingly too, how do leaders demonstrate such kindness? If kindness is only perceived as having relevance amongst more junior levels, what importance is attached to it? Do we recognise leaders only through their strength, their charisma, even their ruthlessness? How have great leaders acted, behaved and communicated during lockdown? Has this been influenced by kindness and will such a value endure post lockdown? Will the post pandemic landscape ask more of them?

And, particularly from my own perspective, what role will kindness play in an organisation’s EVP articulation and the employer branding work it drives? Will it be perceived as too obvious, too weak or simply fanciful within an organisation’s DNA? Or, more positively, will it be viewed as one of the critical factors that helped an organisation and its people during lockdown. Those little gestures, those random acts, that consideration, that kindness? And will it be something that employees now recognise, cherish and want to see retained in a post pandemic future?

How attractive will an employer be if it can authentically demonstrate such on-going kindness running through the employee experience to those candidate audiences in organisations with more of a harder, pre-lockdown mentality. 

“We will start to see kindness, or a variation of it, incorporated into EVPs. But like any other intrinsic value it has to be done with authenticity and therein lies the challenge. There is genuine kindness and there is virtue signalling. You can’t instruct people to be kind.  They have to want to be. And the skill of the employer is to determine what kindness means within their organisation, provide examples of how it can be demonstrated and to hire people who demonstrate a shared ethos and understanding”, Adele Swift, National Recruitment Manager, Handepay.

“Thinking about EVP and its foundations, rarely do we see kindness as an organisational value.  Values are hitherto all about the ‘doing’, what’s measurable in a PDR or a job interview.  Maybe when we look at our values and our EVP, we should start to place more emphasis on just creating a good, considerate place to work and being a great colleague.

The old rules are gone really, it should be about wellbeing and positive energy”, Julie Griggs.

The stories an organisation tells, through its people, to what extent will they be infused with kindness? What sort of an impact will an employee story have on, for example, a careers page, calling out the kindness they are receiving from colleagues, managers, leaders – will it convince? And kindness takes on many forms – kindness to oneself, kindness to colleagues, kindness to the community, kindness to the environment. 

The last ten months have focused our personal sensitivity lens. We notice more readily organisations (and people) behaving poorly. But equally, those employers and colleagues who have demonstrated sensitivity, support and kindness are being recognised to a far greater extent.  

And if your organisation is not looking at how it might emerge providing a kinder employee experience, then it might find itself out of step with broader sentiment. 
According to research this summer, from the Mental Health Foundation, a charity for everyone’s mental health, 72% of workers believe that we should become kinder as a society following COVID-19.

Anecdotally and from very small research samples, I do get the impression that younger workers rate kindness as far more important than those of us with a few more professional miles on the clock. 

I hope their influence, the impact and memory of lockdown and the sheer business sense outlined earlier in this piece, mean that not only is kindness here to stay, but that it has a much higher profile and importance when organisations re-construct their people messaging.