NOT everyone is “OK” but workplaces can reach out and make a meaningful difference

Today, 12th September is R U OK? Day. R U OK? DAY was founded by Gavin Larkin whose father suicided in 1995, leaving his grieving family with way too many questions that would never be answered. Gavin decided that a good way to honour his father was to try to prevent other families from suffering a similar fate.

The simple question, “Are you OK?” has become the basis for a nationwide annual campaign to draw attention to the silent suffering of members of our community. While yes, it is a day that rolls around once a year, the idea is to check on friends, family members, colleagues, neighbours and others throughout the year. The R U OK? movement aims to motivate Australians to “share the love”, which means caring and behaving with genuine interest in keeping the larger community happy, healthy and connected.

Today, Appoint would like to ask:

“How are you sharing the love?”

Foster a workplace culture that cares

For us, we know that our workplace culture of kindness, giving and listening makes for a happy office, an efficient and empowered team and engaged, satisfied clients and candidates. It really does take someone to start and others will follow. Everyone has had business dealings with people who seem bogged down in negativity. In our experience, when shown a little kindness and understanding, the mood of the interaction immediately changes and the air clears so that good business can be done.

Be aware that you may not know what’s going on

A cranky, bristly person who seems to cause trouble wherever they go may be dealing with something quite awful such as a mental health issue, a life situation or a marriage crisis. The same could be the case for difficult clients, suppliers, colleagues, employees, managers and any other human you encounter in the course of your day. Compassion and understanding give you a different viewpoint and can make all the difference in these relationships.

Workplace giving brings teams together

At Appoint, we encourage giving back in multiple ways:

Volunteering – Our crew get busy every Christmas wrapping presents for the Pyjama Foundation which supports children living in out-of-home care.

Donating money – We have company-wide initiatives that financially support charities.

Random acts of kindness – Our team look out for something great that they can help with. One person paid for the groceries of someone who looked like they were struggling financially. Our team member performs the act of kindness and we reimburse them.

Charity days – Appoint staff get one charity day per year (on full pay) that they can use to go and volunteer somewhere.

Supporting local causes – Our team enjoy supporting local causes when the need presents. Just this week we baked cookies for Baked Relief in support of the Qld Firies.

We believe that giving back is an important way of supporting the community that supports us and it creates a genuine culture of caring and connectedness that’s so lacking today. Not everyone is OK, but you may not know it. Reaching out and demonstrating kindness on a regular basis – however random and untargeted it may be – contributes to the mental health of the global community.