Co-chair of Dwyer Group, Dina Dwyer Owens has over 30 years of franchise experience and has twice been featured on TV’s Undercover Boss. How important is kindness in the workplace? Its importance must not be under-estimated, she says here
“Kindness is the new currency.” That’s a claim from author Jill Lubin quoted in a recent magazine article stating that “Kindness generates more customers, greater connectivity, new prospects, forgiveness for your mistakes, and higher employee and customer loyalty.”
So far in 2018, corporate kindness has been winning headlines. First we’ve seen Starbucks announce that they will use some of the savings from the new U.S. corporate tax cuts to give employees pay raises and expanded benefits. And then the CEOs of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co announced they are forming a company that will significantly lower health care cost for their employees. It sure is nice to see corporate giants doing what’s right, not necessarily what’s the most profitable.
And it’s the reason why a little over 20-years ago Dwyer Group implemented its operationalized Code of Values, making sure each value was clearly defined. It is the actions of our company, the culture of our business and the way we strive to Live R.I.C.H. with respect, integrity, customer focus and having fun in the process that really sets the stage for our business and those who are attracted to be part of it. We don’t claim to be a perfect company, and never will be, yet our values help keep us on course.
We were humbly reminded of this when I was invited to represent Dwyer Group and receive the 2018 national Malden Mills Corporate Kindness Award. The U.S. event sponsored by the Values-in-Action Foundation, annually recognizes local, national and international community leaders, businesses and outstanding educators for promoting kindness, care and respect to students and adults for a better society at-large.
It’s no secret that year-over-year our values have produced value. Our motto to Live R.I.C.H is the foundation for our business success with more than 3,100 franchisees doing more than $1.7 billion in system-wide sales across Dwyer’s service brands around the world. A company shouldn’t just have a good Code of Values—the most important thing is to live those values and put them to work every day in a business. That means not being perfect, but showing heart and a social conscience, respecting those you interact with every single day, and doing what’s right, not only what’s profitable.
