“Why should we?”
That’s not a question we have
heard from potential participants, but, still, we felt we should prepare
ourselves just in case. Usually, when we’re highlighting why groups should join
in, we think the better question is, “why shouldn’t you?!?!” We talk to groups
about how it’s really cost efficient way to give back! During some of our
events we’ve noticed there was approximately a $0.30 cost per card expense and
that will likely decline over time since you won’t have to buy markers and/or
scissors each time. Very efficient. Then we can highlight how it’s a ton of
fun. It’s not often that people get to revert back to drawing cartoon characters
and searching through their cell phones to find the hottest jokes and/or trying
to recall if the Minions have names.
But this time, we want to
show some facts that are outside of our
statistics and opinions. Research shows that having employees and/or students
doing relaxing things throughout the day (e.g. making fun cards with classmates
and/or coworkers) can increase productivity. First, while browsing the
internet, we found on article on Health.com that highlights that taking these types of fun breaks
can increase productivity. The article quotes that these, “breaks are
particularly re-energizing if workers spend the time doing something they
enjoy.” Something they enjoy—we’re bias, but we think using glitter pens to
impact kids across the globe is a perfect fit! In addition, we found another article in the Huffington Post that highlights similar findings, and an Atlantic article that says exactly how long those breaks should be. Taking time to step
aside and make a creative card could be a perfect fit.
Now we’ve shown some factors
about how creativity and taking breaks from the computer are a good fit, but we
also want to show some background on why Cardz for Kidz! is a good fit directly. Once again, while doing some
research we learned that these days employee turnover has been slightly
increasing.
In addition, as quoted by a post on TinyPulse, 1 in 4 employees would be willing to leave their current company for
simply a 10% raise. One way to improve loyalty is to improve employee morale
and engagement. When researching some of the best ways to do that we googled
employee engagement and found a story on Entrepreneur.com - this
highlights the 10 best ways to increase employee engagement. Please understand
we didn’t ask them to include it, but if you check out the list, number nine is
volunteer together! One example, making cards for disheartened children! 😊 Then again if
we check out this blog post on JustWorks we see that of the top 10 ways to improve employee
morale, at least six were directly related to group events; volunteering, themed potlucks, decorating contests,
team swag, include families (bring a child to work day), and change the way you
operate (celebrate accomplishments – Top 10).
In summary, hopefully, after
reading this post, it’ll be a bit harder for people to answer our question,
“Why not?” Not only is it efficient and fun to put together an event, but
there’s data that shows it’s very rewarding. Therefore, when your group make
cards it could range from setting aside a couple hours and getting everyone to
work together OR simply having art supplies around so people can slip away from
their desk whenever they need to TAKE A
BREAK - based on the research, sounds like either way should work!
#takeabreak #upliftingspirits
