We just finished celebrating our second annual Random Acts of Kindness week at Hennessey Digital. Last year our Vice President of People Success Jill Wenk launched this endeavor as a way to bring our team together across multiple locations and it was so successful, we had to do it again!
Why We Love RAK Week
One of our guiding principles is to Make It Fun; Don’t Be A Jerk. And what is more fun than celebrating each other through an entire week of kindness? Our People Success Coordinator Ilona Townsend says, “RAK Week is a time where we can show kindness to others, whether they be on our team, within our company, or in our community.” Team members around the world at Hennessey Digital are encouraged to share pictures throughout the week in our Gratitude channel on Slack capturing suggested and impromptu random acts of kindness, and for every action captured, Hennessey Digital donates $5 to a charity voted on by team members.
How We Give Back
This year, our team completed over 200 random acts of kindness, and we donated more than $1,000 to Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian initiative providing life-saving medical aid globally to people in crisis.
(Donating blood for RAK Week 2023)
What Our Team Thought
“There is no such thing as too much kindness. In honor of Random Acts of Kindness day, I’m proud to see our team go way out of their way to intentionally spread generosity, positive energy, and kindness. During RAK week, everyone wins and feels special; there are not many other employer-sponsored activities I see where every single person is positively impacted. When we talk about an award-winning culture, this is a great example of something we do differently that our competitors.” Jill
“I love RAK week because it showcases our company’s kindness and willingness to help. Being grateful always boosts my mood and RAK week made me appreciate all the great things in my personal life and professional life even more. And it was great knowing that our donations went to a good cause!” Cassie
“Endorsed 13 people so far on LinkedIn! RAK’n up that cash money for charity! $$$$” Michele
“RAK week is one of my favorite Hennessey traditions we have. In a way, it connects us more because we get to share things from our personal life like photos of loved ones, favorite local eateries, and donating/volunteering time.” Charlie
“My current volunteering is coaching the girl’s basketball team at church. I’ve got to admit – it’s fun, not work!” Rob
“I realize how easy it is to help the community and charity. I always use online reviews to determine if an establishment is one I want to visit, but I’ve never written one myself! Even by writing a short review for a business, you’re helping them grow. Donating to charity doesn’t have to be a large sum – all of these small acts of kindness were just $5. Little by little it grew, so even the change in the bottom of your bag can help someone in need. This was such a rewarding experience and I’ll definitely try to perform an act of kindness every day moving forward.” Ilona
(Volunteering at church auction)
RAK Week Daily Activities That Fuel Our Workplace Culture
Team members have five days to support random acts of kindness, each day with a different theme. The themes this year were:
Monday: Kindness to your coworkers
We pride ourselves on recognizing team members internally, so we decided to take it up a notch and spread that kindness externally on LinkedIn by endorsing and recommending colleagues.
(Virtual meet-up with Finance, Sales, Executive, and Marketing)
Tuesday: Kindness to those you love
Tuesday happened to be Valentine’s day, so it was the perfect way to celebrate by sharing photos of loved ones and sending e-cards.
Wednesday: Kindness to your team
Wednesday was all about fun team-building activities over Zoom. It can be an adjustment when you’re not face-to-face every day, so teams were encouraged to get together virtually to hang out or even play games like Pictionary.
(Content team playing skribbl.io)
(Creative team meet up)
Thursday: Kindness to small businesses
Small businesses make the world thrive. And honestly, it wasn’t that long ago that we were small too. Team members were encouraged to write reviews for or shop at local businesses.
(Supporting a local florist)
(Supporting a local coffee shop)
Friday: Kindness to the community
To round out the week, team members were encouraged to take one of their days to volunteer or give back in another way like donating clothes, blood, or another act of service.
(Donating clothes)
Random Acts Of Kindness In A Remote Work Field
We’re a 100% remote company and always will be. Our CEO Jason Hennessey founded our agency this way from the start to bring together the best and brightest across the globe. Bringing together more than 100 team members across 13 countries can sometimes be a challenge, but our People Success team finds ways to celebrate team members internally and empower us to pay it forward and celebrate our communities.
How do you celebrate your community or the people around you through random acts of kindness? Tweet us at @HennesseyDgtl and tell us all about it!