A Little Thanks at Work Goes a Long Way

Fatima had a report due at nine the next morning, and at six in the evening it was still a mess. The numbers did not match, and her eyes were starting to blur. Her coworker Tom saw her face, pulled up a chair, and said, “Show me.” He stayed almost two hours. The next morning, before the meeting, Fatima adjusted her hijab, walked over to his desk, and said, “Tom, thank you for last night. I really could not have done it without you.” Tom looked a little surprised, then smiled. “Anytime,” he said. And she could tell he meant it.

It turns out Fatima’s thank-you may have done more than make Tom smile.

The study about a simple thank-you

In 2010, researchers Adam Grant and Francesca Gino published a paper with a title that says it all: “A little thanks goes a long way.” They wanted to know why being thanked makes people more willing to help.

In one experiment, people were asked to give feedback on a student’s cover letter for a job. Afterward, the student wrote back. For some people, the reply included a short note of thanks. For others, the reply was polite but did not include a thank-you. Then the student asked for help with a second letter.

The people who had been thanked were much more likely to help again. In another experiment, the thanked helpers were also more willing to help a different person who asked them for help later. So the thank-you did not only help the person who said it. It seemed to make helpers more ready to help others too.

Thanks in a real workplace

The researchers also looked at a real job. They studied university fundraisers, people whose work was calling past donors to ask for gifts. This can be tough work, with a lot of people saying no.

One group of fundraisers got a short visit from a director who told them she was grateful for their hard work. The other group did not get that visit. In the week after, the fundraisers who were thanked made more calls than before. The fundraisers who were not thanked made about the same number of calls as before.

A few kind sentences from someone who noticed seemed to make a real difference in how much effort people put in.

Why does thanks work?

Grant and Gino wanted to know what was going on inside people’s heads. They found that being thanked made helpers feel more socially valued. In plain words, people felt that someone saw them and cared about what they did.

That feeling of being valued seemed to be the key. It was not just that people felt good. It was that they felt their help mattered to someone. When we feel that way, we are more likely to keep showing up.

Think about Tom. Staying late was a choice. Fatima’s thank-you told him that his time and effort were noticed. That is a small thing to say, but it can mean a lot to hear.

What this can and cannot do

It is good to be clear about the limits. These studies were careful, but they looked at short time spans, often a single task or a single week. We cannot say from them that one thank-you will change a whole workplace for years.

Thanks also cannot fix real problems at work. If people are underpaid, overworked, or treated unfairly, a thank-you is not a substitute for fixing those things. In fact, thanks that feel fake or are used to avoid real change may backfire.

What the research does suggest is that honest, specific thanks helps people feel valued, and that feeling can make people more willing to help. It costs nothing and takes only a moment.

Try it this week

You do not need a big speech. Here is a simple way to bring more thanks into your work or school day:

1. Notice one helper. At the end of the day, think of one person who made your work a little easier, even in a small way.
2. Be specific. Instead of “thanks for everything,” try “thank you for staying late to help me fix those numbers.”
3. Say how it helped. Add one sentence about what their help made possible, like “I felt calm walking into the meeting.”
4. Say it soon. A thank-you the next day often lands better than one weeks later.
5. Write it down for yourself, too. Keeping a note of who helped you makes it easier to remember to thank them.

If saying it out loud feels awkward, a short message or a sticky note on their desk works just as well.

The next late night

A few weeks later, Tom was the one stuck late with a project. Fatima did not even think twice. She grabbed her coffee and pulled up a chair. Thanks, it seems, has a way of coming back around. If you would like a quiet place to remember the people who help you, NOTETYPE lets you write a thought and press “Make it real” to see doodles bloom around your words, all kept private on your device.

Sources

• Grant, A. M., & Gino, F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 946–955.