Most children learn at a young age that two of the most magical words in our vocabulary and “please” and “thank you.” These two simple words can be the difference between someone doing something you’ve asked them to do and someone responding to something you’ve asked for a second time or more, respectively. You could argue that these two words are the foundation of effective communication in any situation. At least that’s what I thought. It seems I found the exception to that rule.
The Wall Street Journal recently ran a piece analyzing (lack of) gratitude in the workplace. In 2013, managers still believe that the only thanks employees need they get via direct deposit every other week. The logic goes something like this…Thanking anyone above ensuring he/she receives a paycheck might cause his/her ego to swell to a point where his/her head couldn’t fit in the building. And that creates major problems. Nobody wants to deal with over-sized egos, so it’s better to play it safe and not thank anyone at all.
I’m not buying it. Treat the people around you well and they’ll do the same for you in return.
What do you think? Does the idea that saying thanks doesn’t belong in the workplace have any merit? Let me know in the comments below.
Jesse says
January 30, 2013 at 5:47 PMMy boss is good about saying “thank you”, which I do appreciate. Him doing that to me and my co-workers causes a ‘pay it forward’ attitude to abound at work.
EB says
January 30, 2013 at 7:26 PMJesse, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve found that managers that do this well i.e. don’t look like their just going through the motions have better engagement from their teams and the teams perform at higher levels. It pays to have some manners!
Tina says
February 3, 2013 at 3:42 PMI once had a business partner who told me he would get upset if someone thanked him – he reasoned he clearly hadn’t done something right all the other times. As a result of this thought process, he never thanked any of his business partners, much less any of our employees – he did cotton to the idea that the paycheck was the thanks. I have always had the habit of thanking my team/staff for doing their day’s work. Each night I would thank my assistant as she left for the day. After doing this for weeks, she finally stopped and looked at me and said – “why do you keep thanking me – I get paid to do this job”. I looked at her and said “that is true – but you still deserve to be thanked for what you do”. I retired my partnership interest over two years ago – she still provides me assistance but more importantly we are friends.
EB says
February 3, 2013 at 5:46 PMTina, appreciate the comment. If I give the business partner the benefit of the doubt, I think he means don’t over do it with “empty” thanks but it sounds like he’s overdone with not thanking people… At the very *least*, when people have gone out of their way to help you, thanks are definitely in order. What’s part of the job is a gray area in most cases now. To your point, relationships can be ruined just because of those missing two words.