GratiTuesdays at Wave

Launch

While the holiday season is a time to reflect on the year and reconnect with loved ones, it’s also a time with tight deadlines and end of year obligations. At the end of November Wave’s People and Culture team wanted to put an emphasis on wellness by kickstarting a new internal campaign—GratiTuesdays—to recognize gratitude within our team each Tuesday for five weeks.

For the GratiTuesday kick-off, Wavers found notebooks on their desks to keep track of things they’re grateful for each day, or to document the times others have shown them gratitude. The team believed this was the best way to begin GratiTuesdays and get the rest of Wave familiar with the initiative. There are also many health benefits associated with expressing gratitude, including better sleep, decreased stress and higher work satisfaction.

Clothing drive

The following GratiTuesday a donation box was added to the Wave office and Wavers were encouraged to donate their gently used items to the Oasis Addiction Recovery Society, a Toronto non-profit providing employer-focused programs for those recovering from drugs and alcohol. Within a week Wave was able to collect 350 pounds of gently used items, up from 200 pounds last year.

Thank you card station

During week three of GratiTuesdays a thank-you card station was set up in the office, allowing Wavers to send direct or anonymous thank you cards to those around them.

Pay it forward day

Followed by the thank you card station, Wave hosted a ‘Pay it Forward Day’ where Wavers were asked to think of something nice that was done for them recently and how it made them feel. They were then challenged to keep that feeling going by paying it forward, or completing a random act of kindness.

GratiTuesdays Finale

These five weeks of gratitude wrapped up with a day of workshops, which included a keynote speech on gratitude followed by breakout sessions on cognitive patterns and mindfulness. These activities were hosted by Divya Lewis, mental health therapist the owner of Choose Gratitude, along with Ary and Cassidy who are also experts in mental health and wellness.

The People and Culture team at Wave felt that wellness can be daunting, so bringing in experts in the industry, some of whom are small business owners themselves, would help build positive and sustainable mental health practices. This initiative was a great way to finish off the year here at Wave, and we can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store!