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Kind things to do at work
Workplaces run on a lot of uncredited effort. These are about noticing it out loud — which is free, faster than you think, and much rarer than it should be.
Showing 1–30 of 68 ideas
Plan someone's first week, not their first day
Onboarding is concentrated in day one, which is the day nobody retains anything.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Learn to say their name properly
People with unfamiliar names spend their lives being mispronounced and told it does not matter.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Leave the accessible toilet alone
It is not the spare one when there is a queue. For some people it is the only one in the building.
5 minutesFreeA stranger3 people did this
Not rated yet
Wait for someone who stammers
Finishing the sentence of someone who stammers is meant to help and does the opposite every time.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Keep including the person whose language it is not
Groups drift back into the majority language within minutes, and the one person left out never says anything.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
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Offer somewhere quiet without making it a thing
Loud rooms are genuinely painful for some people, and asking for quiet in a group is socially expensive.
5 minutesFreeA friend
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Notice who eats lunch at their desk every day
It is sometimes a preference and often the visible end of being outside every group in the building.
Half an hourFreeA stranger1 person did this
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Make leaving early unremarkable
Chronic illness, anxiety and pain all mean sometimes going home. The hard part is having to explain in front of everyone.
5 minutesFreeA friend
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Ask something other than where they are from
For anyone who looks or sounds different, it is the first question of every conversation, forever.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Say something when the room lets it pass
A remark lands, everyone pretends not to have heard, and the target learns exactly who is in the room.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Ask what they did before they came here
A great many people doing low-paid work were engineers, doctors or teachers somewhere their qualifications do not count.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Tell a freelancer what the going rate is
People new to freelancing price from fear. One honest number from someone established resets it permanently.
5 minutesFreeA friend
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Caption the video you posted
Captions serve deaf viewers, people in loud places, and anyone watching with the sound off — which is most people.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
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Pay the small invoice the day it arrives
Late payment is the main reason small suppliers fail. Paying on receipt costs you nothing and can matter enormously.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Know when their important days are
Everyone knows when Christmas is. Far fewer know when Eid, Diwali or Rosh Hashanah fall, or acknowledge them.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Explain the rule nobody writes down
Every workplace, school and country runs on conventions that insiders cannot see and newcomers cannot guess.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Offer to put it in writing
Spoken instructions vanish. For anyone with hearing loss, dyslexia or brain fog they may not have landed at all.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Warn someone what the phrase actually means
'We should do this again sometime' means different things in different places, and getting it wrong is painful.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Say what you are pointing at
'It's over there' is useless to someone who cannot see you gesturing. Words cost nothing extra.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Learn five signs and use them
Hello, thank you, sorry, please, your name. Five signs is enough to change an encounter completely.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
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Find a chair before anyone asks
Standing is the hidden barrier at parties, queues and exhibitions, and asking for a seat means explaining why.
5 minutesFreeA friend
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Give one instruction at a time
Stacked instructions fail for anyone tired, anxious, learning the language or processing differently.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Believe someone about their own symptoms
People with invisible illness spend years being doubted, most often by people who mean well.
5 minutesFreeA friend
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Be the second person to volunteer
The first person to speak up takes all the risk. The second one makes it safe for everyone after.
5 minutesFreeAn organization1 person did this
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Tell someone how you got in
Careers look like merit from outside and like luck and contacts from inside. Saying so out loud helps someone enormously.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
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Say plainly that you are glad they came
Anyone new spends months privately unsure whether they are wanted or merely tolerated. One sentence settles it.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Notice the deadline someone is drowning in
People rarely ask for help at work because asking reads as not coping. Offering removes the admission.
An afternoonFreeA friend
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Find out who quietly fixed the thing
Something broke, then it didn't. Somebody did that, usually out of hours, and nobody has said anything to them.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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Notice the teenager who is doing the caring
Hundreds of thousands of children care for a parent or sibling, and most are invisible to their school and neighbors.
OngoingFreeA caregiver
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Answer the question that has been sitting unanswered
Someone asked in a channel two days ago and nobody replied. The silence is worse than a no.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
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