It perhaps seems obvious that treating employees with kindness will yield a number of benefits, but the scale of even simple gestures was emphasized by a recent study from Penn State, which showed how the smallest gestures can deliver improvements in both the performance and wellbeing of employees.

The researchers found that simply improving the lunches offered to bus drivers in China so that fresh fruit was on the menu resulted in lower levels of depression among drivers, who were also more confident in their performance levels.

“An ultimate solution to improve worker performance and health could be big pay raises or reduced workloads, but when those solutions aren’t feasible, we found that even small offerings can make a big difference,” the researchers say.

Showing you care

The researchers remind us of the particular health risks bus drivers are exposed to due to the stressful working environment they operate in.  This includes irregular shift schedules, random meal times, sedentary working and stressful traffic conditions.  These lead not only to mental stress and strain, but also a range of musculoskeletal issues.

A group of nearly 100 bus drivers was recruited and rewarded with a serving of fresh fruit alongside their typical packed lunch over a three week period.  Surveys were distributed throughout the experiment, including at the start and end, to assess the mental and physical health of the drivers.  The questions included measures designed to gauge quality and quantity of sleep, as well as signs of depression.

“Bus drivers reported significantly decreased depression levels one week after the experiments ended compared to one week before it began,” the authors explain.

Self confidence

The team also measured self-efficacy, to gauge the confidence drivers had in their ability to perform their role effectively via the General Self-Efficacy Scale.  The results showed that the results appeared to be much higher in the middle of the experiment than when the drivers were quizzed both before it started and a week after it had finished.

The authors hypothesize that this could be due to the positive impact the fruit reward had on their perceptions of work.

“This research suggests that employees can be sensitive to any improvement at the workplace,” they say. “Before an ultimate solution is possible, some small steps can make a difference–one apple at a time.”

Suffice to say, the findings are not entirely conclusive, and the Hawthorne experiment famously reminds us that changes can come simply by virtue of change itself, so a more robust analysis would be required before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Nonetheless, given the relatively low costs involved in showing such kindness to staff, it’s perhaps worth conducting some of these experiments in your own workplace.