The Business Case for Kindness

Not only is kindness good for our wellbeing, but it is good for business.

Developing an authentic brand that holds kindness at the heart of its culture and brand values is an extremely powerful business model.  “Cheerful kindness” does have commercial value as a branding concept, as Innocent Smoothies has shown with its gentle and clever humour in fundraising campaigns for good causes. It makes the company stand out from their product competitors and customers want to engage with them.

Customer and community engagement is now an essential element of an organisation’s marketing strategy: “87% of UK consumers expect companies to consider societal interests equal to business interests”. Edelman, November 2010

It’s why so many companies choose to engage with their communities as part of a “Corporate Social Responsibility Policy”, or invest in training staff to communicate well with their customers and internally.

Helen Oldfield, Founder of Affinity PR, said, “Treating people at work with kindness is a business strategy that, quite literally, pays dividends.  When office hours are long and salaries are modest, creating a culture of cheerful kindness can be hugely motivational and productive for staff, who remain loyal.   We’ve all worked in dreaded places where we never knew what mood our co-workers or bosses would be in and who’d be on the receiving end of a tantrum or unkind snipe.  It feels great to work in an atmosphere of kindness and trust, where the mood is upbeat and everyone mucks in and goes the extra mile, even when under pressure. It’s so simple and yet so effective.”