Want to be happier at work? Be nice to your boss

The interactions between boss and employee can make or break the work experience. But it could be on employees to maintain a relationship that leads to overall satisfaction and happiness at work. 

Kindness.org, a nonprofit that studies the science behind happiness, conducted a study to see which workplace relationships are the biggest predictors of happiness at work. The study found that employees who were kind to their boss were most likely to be content at work. Kindness from boss to employee did not make as significant an impact on happiness, according to the study. 

But this link between an employee's attitude and behavior toward their manager could reveal that a positive workplace culture is actually setting the tone, says Jaclyn Lindsey, founder of Kindness.org. 

"It's indicative of a culture where your boss is leading in a way that you want to show up for them, you want to choose kindness for them, you want to care well for them," Lindsey says. "It's a signal that a boss has created an environment where kindness is encouraged, practiced and modeled." 

Read more: BFFs with your boss: The pros and cons of work friendships 

To find a connection between kindness in workplace relationships and happiness, Kindness.org asked workers how willing they would be to do certain things for people they worked with. Innocuous things like adding their birthday to a calendar, to treating them to lunch, to more extreme examples like shielding them during a workplace shooting or bailing them out of jail were all questions individuals pondered in gauging their connections to each other. The results revealed that kindness is often a two-way street, says Dr. Oliver Scott Curry, chief science officer at Kindness.org. 

"This study is correlational — so we can't say, being kind to your boss makes you happier. But having the kind of boss that you're willing to be kind to makes you happy," he says. "The more your boss would do for you, the more you would do for your boss and for everyone else. If you have a boss that you trust, that you have confidence in, that you're willing to go the extra mile for, that's a particularly good indicator of the health of the company overall." 

As employers and employees have navigated the challenges of the past several years, kindness and empathy have gradually become core to how organizations operate. That behavior starts from the top down, and will eventually circle back and benefit leaders, too, Lindsey says. 

"When it comes to company culture, kindness still might get a bad rap, and there might still be some skepticism around whether you can be productive and kind," she says. "However, there's a huge shift where people are realizing that life is more integrated, and there's a heightened sense of how you rely on your teammates and your colleagues to navigate these kinds of experiences." 

Read more: From personal milestones to great work, Allstate helps employees celebrate their wins

While the Kindness.org study looked at specific examples of showing kindness toward a boss or colleague, the reality is much simpler than needing to make a big personal sacrifice on their behalf. A little can go a long way, Dr. Curry says. 

"There might be a tendency to have grand gestures, or to do big showy things," he says. "But the little things like saying good morning to people, or holding the door open or surprising them with a small gift sometimes have the biggest effect and are most appreciated." 

Kindness.org works with organizations to implement kindness practices into their day-to-day operations. Lindsey says she's often told by employees that they simply want to be asked how they're doing, or be given credit for completing a project or task. These actions are small, but have a big impact. 

"If you're already someone who says good morning, but you don't check in and ask about family or plans or travel, start there," she says. "Ask people how you can help them and how you can support them. So many people [tell us], "I just wish you would say thank you when I submit a project or contribute.' It often takes very little time, energy or effort." 

Kindness.org's study showed that leading by example is a predictor of kindness flowing freely throughout an entire organization, and will eventually lead to greater engagement and productivity, as well as an overall sense of well-being.

"We know that when people witness kindness, they're affected by it, and the kindness becomes multiplied because you're then inspired to be kind to someone else," Lindsey says. "Kindness is becoming a core asset and value and something that companies can show is good for them, and not just because it feels good, but because it actually does drive more engaged and happier employees."