As the working world continues to develop we are becoming more aware that it is team-building possible to have a workplace that isn’t dreadfully boring for every employee. More so than that we have finally learnt that it’s incredibly beneficial for the workplace not to be some monotonous habit 6 days a week. Since employees are spending an average of 50 hours a week together it's only natural for friendships to blossom amongst all of the work and this is now something you are going to want to encourage amongst your team since companies with higher employee engagement are 21% more profitable.
This graph from Forbes shows us results over an 11 year period of 12 companies that did have good and growing workplace culture, vs 20 that did not have this type of culture. The results are drastically different and this alone is already proof enough that workplace culture is crucial to work on in any business. So how and why does something seemingly as simple as workplace relationships have such an incredible impact on the business? Firstly, being able to bond with co-workers and create even small friendships will create a more comfortable place for large amounts of closer and better teamwork. This is due to friendships creating a level of trust and comfort amongst employees, they will be more likely to ask for help on any workplace struggles and workers will also be more willing to help since they will have some form of emotional connection. This is how an increase in work productivity happens from good relationships in a business and hopefully work quality alongside that. Close worker relationships will also bring company loyalty. One of the main reasons people leave their job is boredom, with friends to converse with and work with on potentially difficult projects there’s some sense of relief since close-knit relationships make the workplace more enjoyable which is another important factor for business, fun yet professional and still productive. On top of this, when workers are close there is far less conflict in the workplace since they will have mutual respect for one another. Now this is not saying there won’t be any conflict as people see things differently and not everyone gets along with everyone, but it is saying that there will be far less as well as any conflict will likely be handled quicker, maturely and without much fuss. The most common reason for conflict at work tends to be personality clashes, so through encouraging good friendships from the beginning, hopefully, they will learn to understand each other early on. Cipd’s survey found that just over 35% of workers experience conflict at work, yet cmoe claims that 85% of workers and leaders claimed to have experienced conflict at work of which 29% said the conflict was constant It’s been reported that workplace conflicts can take up to just over two hours a week which equals 385 million days of work being focused on conflict. On top of this, it was found that mishandled conflict then lead to further issues such as;
Absence and sick days
Conflict between departments
Employees resigning
Colleagues being fired
The failure of projects
Already the importance of workers relationships to the company are very clear but there are also plenty of benefits for personal gain. With creating new relationships, people skills are constantly being developed which is a great skill to have for personal day-to-day life as well as in the workplace when dealing with customers or meetings. Having close at work relationships may also boost confidence especially for those who are more introverted and confidence at work has already been proven to bring in even more benefits to the employee and business.
There are plenty of methods on how to improve and encourage employee relationships but the one which proves to provide the best results tends to be some form of training, be that leadership training or team member training. 95% of people who participated in conflict management training stated that it was useful and helped with future conflicts.
Overall we should be focusing on personal development even at work, don’t neglect the benefits of personal connections for the wellbeing of yourself and your workplace.
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