For many professionals, the workplace is like a second family. And even though remote work has killed the process, many workers today still think of the workplace as the place to form lifelong relationships and form friendships.
This is why many companies today allow and encourage connection to the workplace. It has now become an essential part of the organization’s culture. This significantly improves employee satisfaction and is critical to the organization’s retention program.
Furthermore, since today’s hectic lifestyles leave very little time for self-renewal, workplace bonding can help reduce employee burnout and allow employees to improve their work-life balance.
Here’s how workplace communication can positively impact workforce morale and improve employee satisfaction.
1. Reduces the stress of the employees
Everyone feels work-related stress from time to time. However, constant stress can be problematic and cause long-term problems. That is why it is important to create a policy to combat it from an organizational point of view.
Strong interpersonal relationships between teams can enable employees to cope with workplace stress and reduce anxiety. Moreover, they can also reduce problems related to decreased workforce motivation and loneliness.
2. Improves general well-being
Employees who do not fit into the company’s culture feel social isolation, which may negatively affect their mental and emotional health.
Connecting with co-workers can solve this problem and allow such employees to integrate into the company culture. In addition, it can also help organizational leaders build a culture of open communication and optimize work-life balance. Such organizations see improved communication and effective collaboration between teams.
3. Increases employee morale
Strong employee relations can significantly increase team morale and motivate employees to perform better. This increased emotional support instills a sense of positivity in the team, leading to improved performance, an increased sense of accomplishment, and increased focus.
Simple social interaction can also improve employees’ sense of control over their work environment. This reduces work accidents and creates a relaxed work environment
4. Supports innovation better than existing employees
As mentioned, interpersonal contact leads to a relaxed work environment. And in a relaxed work environment, it is easy to perform tasks and optimize processes. Employees who don’t feel stressed can easily work on new ideas and draw inspiration from each other. They can also understand complex concepts and work to simplify complicated procedures.
Employees who aren’t overwhelmed by day-to-day tasks can also create and share business insights, which is another way to boost innovation through ancillary help. Such ideas can also be patented for significant financial rewards by the employer.
5. Improves employee-management involvement
Companies with good interpersonal relations between employees see positive employee and management engagement. Such employees develop trusting relationships with their leaders and work towards a common goal.
A culture of open communication benefits both employees and management. Employees can use the new information to better understand management perspectives and advance their careers. Management can use this flow of information for organizational growth and brainstorming ideas.
This cannot happen where there is a superficial relationship between staff and management. For this to work, supervisors and employees must communicate better and share observations.
6. Creates a more helpful work environment
Negative feelings between team members can lead to stress and dysfunction. On the other hand, a team built on meaningful employee relationships is motivated to provide guidance and support to its team members. Such team members also share knowledge and experiences with each other.
This is very useful for new entrants as it allows them to access the knowledge and skills of experienced team members for effective knowledge transfer. Additionally, since team members are better suited to understand each other’s emotional demands than management, they are also better placed to provide knowledge and support related to job roles.
Furthermore, a helpful and engaged team can help team members reach their full potential. Such units can also create better workflows for their department.
7. Increases employee retention
This is one of the most significant benefits in encouraging better relations between employees. Employees who are friends with each other engage in much more frequent and personal interactions. Such employees use a collaborative approach to work and develop better interpersonal relationships
Since then we have been working with Better interpersonal relationships are relaxed and satisfied in their role, they continue to work in the same organization for many years. This can lead to excellent retention statistics, and significantly lower business costs.
How do you help interpersonal relations between employees?
As a company, creating a culture of interpersonal relationships can be challenging. This change needs to start from the root, that is, the employees themselves need to create a work environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing the details of their lives with each other. However, you can do a few things from a manager’s perspective to improve interpersonal interaction and facilitate team bonding.
For example, you can schedule weekly company lunch meetings to improve communication and build a culture of harmony. This can also be done on a cross-team basis, meaning managers can schedule lunches with different teams to improve communication between teams. Such measures can help employees develop social connections outside of their current teams.
Leaders can also use activities such as quizzes and professional workshops to instill a sense of collaborative learning. The latter activity can also help employees develop their skills and climb up the organizational ladder.
For a remote setup, you can create Slack and Mattermost channels that can allow different teams to collaborate digitally. You can also use these channels to motivate employees through recognition and rewards programs.
Finally, you can organize an infrastructure for your remote teams to collaborate when needed. For example, some companies have started using coworking spaces as local hubs to connect their team members.
Summary
Workplace relationships are a crucial part of an employee’s well-being. They can serve as emotional support systems, improve work-life balance and encourage inter-team harmony.
Bonding between co-workers is also a great way to reduce stress and stimulate innovation. Companies that invest in connecting employees can see significant productivity and create a positive work environment for their employees.
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