Page 136 - Successful Onboarding

“Connections That Count”—Empowering Employees by Nurturing • 123

already contemplating a job move. A fourth was seriously unhappy. Only
one of the five reported still feeling satisfied with her job.
As the discussion continued, the four unhappy group members agreed
that their social lives at work had proved disappointing, to say the least.
After an initial week of training exercises with other new hires, these
friends were mostly left alone in their cubicles with a stack of assignments.
Co-workers were 10 or more years older, and it was sometimes difficult to
enjoy a non-work-related conversation. The loneliness made work seem
like a daily grind instead of something in which an employee could take
pleasure and pride. When one of these recent graduates found her lunch
missing from the shared refrigerator, she did not even know whom to talk
to about it, much less feel comfortable raising the issue. This only led to
a growing feeling of insecurity.
As we saw earlier, the psychologist Abraham Maslow listed social
belonging within his hierarchy of basic human needs. It is recognized by
social scientists and physiologists that when social needs go unsatisfied at
work, people indeed become lonely, anxious, and depressed in their
employment and at home. We also know that relationships can make you
happier at work; hence, the very convention in many firms of holding
“happy hours.” Empirical research bears out the wisdom of happy hour.
According to research performed by the Gallup organization, 30% of work-
ers polled strongly agreed that they had a best friend in the workplace.
Among this group, 56% reported being engaged workers, 33% reported
being unengaged, and 11% reported being actively unengaged. Compare
this with the 70% of workers who didn’t strongly agree that they had a best
friend at work: Only 8% of this group reported being engaged employees,
63% reported being not engaged, and 29% percent reported being actively
disengaged. Relatedly, a separate study of workers at a California telecom
company found that those who behave benevolently toward their fellow
workers and receive favors in return are more productive than those who
do not. The title of the article presenting this research put it well, “Best
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Friends Are Good for Business.”
Recognition of relationships’ emotional benefits has motivated organi-
zations to socialize new hires via welcome breakfasts, team building out-
ings, and the like. Firms also provide social outlets in the form of softball
leagues, affinity groups, and involvement in charity events. Yet as our five
friends discovered, such scattered measures were hardly enough to help