World Kindness Day: Over half of employees see kindness as a leadership trait

In light of World Kindness Day, research has found that over half of employees value kindness as a leadership trait.

According to Perkbox, an employee experience platform, 63 per cent of employees value kindness as a leadership trait. World Kindness Day was introduced in 1998 and is a day for the celebration of kindness in society and day to day life.

When asked who has offered more support for career growth, 39 per cent said: “a colleague in my team” with only 29 per cent saying their manager offered support. A mentor outside of their business came in at 17 per cent.

Over a third (35 per cent) said the kindest thing a co-worker has ever done for them is being “provided with support when experiencing personal problems.”

This was followed by receiving a “thank you gesture” at 30 per cent and third at 27 per cent was being “made a cup of tea.”

Madlena Pozlevic, employee experience lead at Perkbox said:

With November being known as a grey and dreary month, there is no better time to spread some kindness and boost morale amongst your employees. Getting involved in World Kindness Day as a business doesn’t have to be a costly exercise and – as you can see from the research above – could involve anything as simple as  sending out a thank you email or making your colleagues a cup of coffee. Every little bit helps, just make sure you join us in celebrating!

This research was collated by asking the opinion of 2,000 employed UK adults.

On September 5th 2019, in light of International Day of Charity, Perkbox found that 63 per cent of UK employees get no Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) days off from work to volunteer.

The research also showed that certain industries are worse than others. Three quarters (75 per cent) of employees who work in healthcare, architecture, engineering and building industries do not receive any volunteering days from their employers.

Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.