“ LONELINESS AND FEELING LESS CONNECTED WITH PEOPLE AT WORK – AND IN OUR COMMUNITIES MORE WIDELY – ARE GROWING ISSUES.”
“Quite often, people feel seen with a few well-directed coaching questions: what did you think of that meeting? What do you think went well? What would you change for next time? A framework of coaching can give you that perspective. Friends and coaching go to the heart of being seen. If we are to make workplaces more connected, then making sure we feel seen and that is felt [are important].” For Laura Fink, people and
culture director at HR platform HiBob, new managers are trained and equipped to help people build ‘people first’ connections and empower them in their growth mindset. This includes listening circles and building time into schedules every quarter for people to reset and recharge on Bob Balance
8
Days (full company shutdowns). This is led from the top by leaders. It also means people feel safe to say they are feeling overwhelmed, said Jane Hinchcliffe, head of people practices at Tesco Bank. “Agile organisations need to ensure they are not creating pressure and people can say ‘no’.” Connection building, creating
team and company rituals and helping people feel seen can be achieved on a small scale with low to no budget, such as the daily fika (coffee break) in Sweden. Bruce Daisley also gave examples like the self-explanatory Pizza Tuesday (small room, everyone invited, proximity creates opportunities to chat), Crisp Thursday (table in the reception area with a revolving assortment of conversation-starting snacks) and standing ten-minute meetings where, if there’s no micro training or update on the agenda, then a rock, paper, scissors tournament takes place to get people talking. He also gave the example of
an Australian college’s dining hall protocol. Everyone is told on their first day that dining tables in the hall at lunch are filled from right to left. “You take the seat next to someone and only start a new table when the one next to you is full,” explained
Daisley. “By the end of the year, everyone has spoken to everyone in the organisation. It’s a simple rule but one that has improved cohesion. It’s turned something lonely into something collective. Sometimes having structured rules can seem counter-intuitive, but they can be in service of building something stronger.”
MAKING WORK MANAGEABLE & MEANINGFUL The shift to hybrid and remote working has positively impacted employee wellbeing and happiness. The CIPD’s latest ‘Good Work Index’ found that people hybrid employees are less likely to say work is just about the money and more likely to add more discretionary effort, suggesting work is more manageable. Another related area Bruce
Daisley says can increase happiness at work and reduce overwhelm is reducing the number of meetings. “The amount of time spent in meetings has trebled in the last ten years. If we are to enhance and improve cultures, we need to think about that.” Being called back to the office two or three days a week only to participate in back-to-back Teams or Zoom calls
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86
