Invest In Relationships | Movement Does Dinner Dates

We all know that relationships matter. People with healthy relationships in the office and at home are more engaged and perform at a higher level. But as leaders in our organizations, how often do we actually think about and invest in our employees’ relationships outside the office?

At Movement, our Thrive team promotes plenty of traditional relationship perks: Chaplains, counseling and other emotional support. But we also do something a little unorthodox. Once a year, we give every one of our operations center employees a $50 gift card. We host a short program (hopefully providing at least something to benefit employees’ relationships) and provide free child care. Then we tell them to go spend the money as an investment in their relationship with someone else; a spouse, friend or co-worker. Most people went to dinner on us!

Does it make a difference? Ask them.  

Shane & Brandy - “My wife and I met at our church back in high school. We’ve been together for 15 years now, and we’ve been married for 12 of those years. We’ve got four awesome kiddos ranging from 8 years to 18 months. With our kids and busy schedules, it can be really hard to carve out time for just for us.” 

Shereen & Sax - “We both work at Movement; Shereen has been with the company for about three years now but I’ve only been here for a little over six weeks. We’ve been dating for almost nine months now, but we first met probably three and a half years ago. When we first met I had just moved to Virginia Beach from a little town called Victor in Montana. Three years later around Christmas, I finally worked up the courage to ask her out and here we are now. If I didn’t believe in Christmas miracles before, I do now!

Date Night was so much fun for us. We both work full time and we’re also both in school full time, so finding the time to get dressed up and go out for a nice dinner can be difficult. We were so thankful to be able to hit the pause button on the busy work week and just enjoy each other’s company for a bit.” 

Stefanie - “I work with our awesome Government Insuring Team at Movement. A few of my friends and I decided to attend date night together and we had a great time! We went to dinner at Yard House. The food was delicious. It was certainly a night to remember, filled with great conversations, lots of laughter, and a time to relax and have fun with friends!” 

Susie & Luis - “Luis and I have been married 19 and a half years. We met back at Sears in 1995 (where we both worked at the time), and we have a 17-year-old daughter.

Date night to us means time just for ourselves. We went without this for many years, but we believe it’s really important to consistently maintain quality time together in a marriage.”

Julianna & Thaddaeus - “Thaddaeus and I met two years ago on eHarmony. We originally connected over the fact that we don’t intend to have biological kids, but instead desire to foster or adopt. To find someone who shared that was a huge deal because it’s a non-negotiable, and kind of rare. Luckily, we connected on many other levels as well, and he’s been the one making me laugh and embarking on adventures with me for over two years now (with a lifetime to come, since we’ll be getting married in the spring).

Thaddaeus is currently working on two Masters degrees (Social Work and Public Administration), so both money and free time have been tight. Date Night helped give us an extra push to not only spend quality time together, but to be intentional to make plans in advance to do something out of the ordinary.” 

Liorah & Chris - “My husband Chris and I met (again) through a mutual friend — we actually went to high school together. Four years later, a friend re-introduced us, and we’ve been together ever since. We’ve been married for 13 years now.

Date night to me is a time to spend quality time together. We have little kids who we adore, but we are really busy. We have opposite schedules, so we don’t get a whole lot of one on one time to relax and just be together. We are both fitness competitors, so date night means a fun, untracked meal; a time to put the scale away. And we always do froyo as a family!”

Jazmine & Candyce - “I went to date night with my friend, Candyce. We met here at Movement a few months ago.

Date night to me meant a good meal with a cool friend whom I wanted to get to know even more. We had a blast! There’s nothing like a great conversation over a meal.” 

Amber & Blaine - “We were college sweethearts. We’ve been together for seven years and married for three. In those three years, we’ve traveled the world, had two babies, changed careers (a couple of times) and bought our first home. To say we’ve been busy is an understatement!

A date night was more than needed. We had the best time spending time with each other sans kids and cellphones, and our kiddos had a blast too. For a few hours, time stood still, and we enjoyed every second!”