This year, more so than previous years, we acknowledge how vital it is to be kind to others, but also to ourselves. It’s a been a challenging year – and let’s face it, a bit of kindness goes a long way so we decided to get involved and support World Kindness Day.
World Kindness Day falls on Friday 13th November, right in the middle of lockdown month and a week after Stress Awareness Day so we encouraged the team to think about these two dates and some initiatives that we could all get involved in. Our company culture is very caring and supportive and we often refer to our team as our ‘Redwood family’. After Lockdown 1.0, a number of staff were eager to return to the office in their bubbles and welcome some normality back so we understood the importance of supporting our colleagues through Lockdown 2.0.
The team have come up with some great ideas to show their support and kindness to each other, families, friends and importantly looking after themselves. Our colleague Christina has provided us with wellness sessions each morning of yoga, stretching and a chat – which has been a great way to start the day positively. Other colleagues have been getting involved in random acts of kindness throughout the week, for example Georgie did some food shopping for elderly neighbour and Oli volunteered to help at a foodbank on his day off. Finally, we decided to end the week with our usual Friday News Quiz and share some thoughts about what we value in each other – this was an done anonymously but brought a lot of happiness and laughter to the team.
Reflecting on this week of kindness and contributions we have made, whether its been random acts of kindness or showing support and encouragement, what we know is these behaviours are needed continuously to make a difference and form part of our culture. In a world where you can be anything, be kind!