07/02/2020

Daily Buzz: The Power of Good News

Boost employee morale by delivering positive news

There is no shortage of negative news stories in uncertain times. And when you add that to new challenges at work and home, it’s easy to be in a constant state of stress. In fact, in a survey from the American Psychological Association (APA), more than half of Americans said that the news causes them stress, resulting in anxiety, fatigue and sleep loss.

To battle the effects of bad news, organizations should consistently share good news with employees as a way to boost morale.

“Managers should suggest that employees set aside regularly scheduled time to read, share, and discuss positive news stories,” said Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio on the MIT Sloan Management Review.

Cecchi-Dimeglio tells the story of an experiment where she assigned workers to watch and discuss “Some Good News,” a YouTube series hosted by actor John Krasinski. The result? Employees who had received good news were 18 percent more optimistic than the control group of employees who were not given the experimental nudge. On top of that, the group that watched the show reported being 32.4 percent less anxious and 12.2 percent more likely to feel grateful for being healthy than the employees in the control group, who did not watch the good news videos.

Organizations can easily follow suit and deliver pieces of positive news on their existing communications platforms.

“Companies may already have virtual watercooler channels set up on their internal communication platforms, but another helpful idea is to set up a new channel dedicated solely to good news sharing, voting, and discussing,” Cecchi-Dimeglio said.

Please select this link to read the original article from Associations Now.