How can we care for strangers if we don’t care for each other?
I’ve noticed that workplaces thrive and become more virtuous, more safe, and have better retention when employees donate to staff who are sick, injured, or affected by a disaster. For one thing, valuing team members when they are vulnerable and caring for them when they are not contributing work indicates that they are respected not just for their work, but for their intrinsic value.
So many people feel used or threatened at work, but when your coworkers show up to raise funds for your nephew who is battling cancer, or your coworker’s grandma who lost her house in a fire, a lot of things start to happen in an employee. Below are some attributes that came out of my own experiences with collaborative charity:
- I believed that my coworkers were decent people
- I was more likely to trust my coworkers during stressful situations
- I felt satisfied because I was helping someone (which was why I worked in healthcare in the first place)
- I developed a deeper sense of empathy from drawing closer to a painful experience rather than fearing it at a distance
These benefits can be amplified across a team. However, I need to be clear that some forms of charity can do serious damage to a team.
By Gayle Porter
