A story about how gratitude transcends boundaries

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Gratitude became a powerful force at KTC during a three-day event called #thanks Days. Held from February 13 to 15, 2023, the event brought together employees from four locations—Muromachi, Jimbocho, Nagoya, and Osaka Tech Lab. At each site, staff set up a Free Snack Bar where they filled cups with snacks and added thank-you cards to share with colleagues. The event was designed to improve cross-team communication and build a culture of mutual appreciation. Many employees had long wanted to express gratitude more openly, especially across different roles, ages, and departments. Research showed that gratitude boosts happiness by 12% and increases productivity, while also triggering the release of oxytocin—the “happiness hormone.” This made gratitude a strong foundation for better workplace conversations. The #thanks Slack channel already existed, with daily posts, but only about 10% of employees contributed. The event aimed to spark wider participation. The Snack Bar was a hit—each location restocked snacks three times, showing high engagement. On Slack, a heartfelt post from someone writing “Ri-Ga-To-U” (thank you in Japanese) and handing the letter “A” to graduates became a touching symbol of appreciation. Results were impressive: the #thanks channel saw a 117% increase in subscribers, 119 new posts, over 2,000 reactions, and a 332% rise in contributors—from 19 to 63 in just three days. Even with language barriers, employees from overseas clearly felt appreciated. Though some words were hard to understand, the emotions behind them were unmistakable. Many people mentally translated them as “Thank you for the amazing initiative,” which strengthened their sense of belonging. Gratitude doesn’t need words to be felt—it just needs to be shared. This event proved that simple, human gestures can build deeper connections across teams and borders. At KTC, gratitude is now a core part of daily culture.

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Hello! I'm an organizational development coordinator in the Human Resources Group. After joining the company in January 2023, the first company-wide event I organized turned out to be a heartwarming experience, so I decided to write about it. This article covers an event held in February 2023.
 KTC #thanks Days

This is the name of the event. Within the company, we refer to KINTO Technologies as KTC.




■Event Overview ・Date: February 13 - February 15, 2023 ・Locations: Muromachi Office, Jimbocho Office, Nagoya Office and Osaka Tech Lab ・Details: At each location, we set up a “Free Snack Bar” where employees could fill a cup with their favorite snacks to give as a gift. They attached a thank you card with a note of appreciation, and exchanged these snacks with their colleagues.

Here’s what the filled snack cups looked like
So cute...
 Why we held this eventWe had two main reasons: to enhance communication and to build a company culture of mutual appreciation.

After joining the company, I spoke with various colleagues and discovered that many wanted better cross-team communication across different positions, roles, ages, and genders. We hoped that this event would be an opportunity for everyone to share the gratitude they hadn’t been able to express or had forgotten to convey on a daily basis.  Our aim was to deepen communication and pave the way for further interactions.
 ●Why we focused on gratitudeWhen I researched what kind of communication measures to use, I found that expressing gratitude to one another has a significant impact. ・It creates feelings of gratitude, kindness, and interest in others ・It makes you focus on the strengths and positive aspects of others ・It stimulates communication ・It also increases productivity (some data shows that happiness increases productivity by 12%, while unhappiness reduces productivity by 10%) ・It releases oxytocin, the happiness hormone, making you feel happy

and more. We found that communication through expressing gratitude leads to higher quality conversations than without.
 ●The existence of the #thanks channelIn addition, KTC had a wonderful Slack channel called "#thanks" that spontaneously emerged, with various "thanks" messages posted every day. However, only about 10% of employees were contributing, so we hoped to use KTC #thanks Days as an opportunity to increase channel usage. We aimed to use this event as a catalyst for creating a culture of daily gratitude.
 The actual event
The Snack Bar was a huge success, with many people gathering every day! Each location ended up restocking snacks three times, which was a delightful outcome! It was impressive to see how much fun everyone was having while choosing their snacks.

As for the Slack channel...


Among the many cute posts, there was also this heartwarming one...
...? ? ?
Someone posted "Ri-Ga-To-U"(“Thank you” in Japanese) to the #thanks channel and handed the remaining letter "A" to the graduating members as a farewell gift. What a wonderful gesture! It was truly a memorable and touching moment!
 Channel Promotion ResultsDid the number of users actually increase?

<Results of three days> #thanks subscribers: increased by 117%  #thanks posts: 119 new posts  Total reactions: over 2,000  Number of contributors: increased by 332% (from 19 in January to 63 in just three days)

These were also impressive results!!
 LastlyAs a result of implementing this event across all locations, we received a significant number of reactions on Slack and saw that many people enjoyed the three days.

Additionally, since about 25% of KTC’s employees are from overseas, we realized that gratitude transcends language barriers. Even if someone couldn’t read the words, the feelings of appreciation were clearly communicated. Although there were some words I couldn't catch, there were many instances where I could tell I was being appreciated. Each time, I mentally translated it to "Thank you for the amazing initiative!"which greatly boosted my self-esteem.

 <In fact, the POP display had "Thank you" written in all the languages of our employees’ countries.>
This experience made me realize how fundamentally important gratitude is, and how transforming it into words and actions can be so profoundly impactful. Gratitude transcends borders. By being receptive to the actions of others, feeling a sense of appreciation, and expressing it, we aim to make these practices a natural part of our company culture.  I am committed to helping build this habits at KTC and strengthening our organization.

Thank you so much for allowing me to take on such a wonderful project shortly after joining the company. 감사합니다!