Sheldon Yellen is the CEO of BELFOR Holdings, Inc., a disaster-relief and property-restoration company. And since 1985, long before Yellen was chief executive, he has written a birthday card to every employee of the company every single year.
Yellen told Business Insider that he started the practice after his brother-in-law hired him on and the other staff members felt he was being given special treatment. So Yellen decided to start writing birthday cards, thinking it might start better conversations between him and the employees. He said:
“It worked. It got people talking, we started to communicate more, and I like to think it helped me earn respect in the company.”1
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Yellen brings a suitcase of cards on every flight he takes and writes out birthday cards for his staff. But it’s not just birthdays. He also writes holiday cards, anniversary cards, thank you cards, and writes to his employees’ kids when they are sick. Yellen says whenever he learns of a random act of kindness, he likes to send a thank you card to that person so they know they’re appreciated and don’t go unnoticed.
Yellen’s practice has created a culture of thoughtfulness throughout the company. It has made the workplace more compassionate and gracious. Managers have started writing cards for their clients and team members.
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Other CEOs may consider the gesture frivolous or a waste of time, but Yellen is quick to disagree. He said his experience has taught him that genuine interest in your employees has many rewards, and is “something that doesn’t cost a thing.”He said:
“When leaders forget about the human element, they’re holding back their companies and limiting the success of others. Focusing only on profit and forgetting that a company’s most important asset is its people will ultimately stifle a company’s growth.”1
Researchers agree with Yellen’s theory. Gratitude can eliminate toxic workplace emotions, attitudes, and negative emotions such as envy, anger, and greed. Envy comes from ingratitude and research in envy has found that envy brings counterproductive work behaviors, moral disengagement and social undermining, poor mental health, and depressive tendencies.
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That data shows that organizational gratitude has a direct effect on improving work culture, to enhance individual well-being in the workplace. It is also important to employee efficiency, success, productivity, and loyalty. And it enhances team learning and high-quality connections. Gratitude, then, is a simple practice that sustains employee performance and can change the work environment. So when people feel appreciated and recognized, they enjoy their work, they get more work done, and their general health is improved.
Writing a birthday card may seem like a vintage or out-dated move. But Yellen says it gets people out of their smartphones and communicating in person. When asked if it is worth it, Yellen replied:
“Is it worth it? I think it is. I think it’s a culture builder. It lets people know and understand that they matter. And they too pass that on to others.”1
