Director's Take

Friends At Work

03-22-2023

According to research by the National Institute of Mental Health, being able to link open personal conversations to work and to organizational health matters. Bryan Hancock, partner with McKinsey, states that was true before the pandemic and it’s the case even moreso now. As a result, we need emotional fluency in the workplace now more than ever.
 
Having been in the workforce for a good 25’ish years, I can say it is no surprise that having friends at work creates higher engagement, higher quality work, and a higher sense of well-being. I have many friends from previous jobs who remain important in my life and with whom I connect on a regular basis. But a lot of our younger workforce, who came out of college and found a job in the last three years, are not benefiting from that. So, in part, it’s no coincidence that loneliness and mental health concerns are on the rise, and in particular, according to research, for the Gen Z generation. The newest to the workforce are the ones who don’t know what they are missing.
 
We owe it to ourselves, to our employers, to our community – heck, maybe even the larger society as a whole – to take a look within and ask what is it about this new desire and demand for flexibility in our work week that has made being at home more important than being with each other? As younger employees, did we have meaningful friends from work? Did we rely on mentorship simply by proximity? Did we have a higher degree of connection to our employer and the work we did?
 
I hope we don’t wait until we have really sad and lonely people in our workforce (or anywhere!) before we realize that giving this amount of flexibility wasn’t the best idea. And before I get hate mail, I’m not saying flexibility is bad. In fact, I was saying ten years ago that unless we wanted to follow the European model of national vacations in August, that America should consider a 4-day work week given our predilection toward long hours and struggle with work-life balance. One day a week of remote work is a LOT different than two or especially three days. Whether we realize it or not, we are missing out on a very important sense of community.
 
We have all heard that workforce is in high demand and will leave if forced to come to the office; however, I have yet to see that play out in any big way for the companies who have asked their employees to return. Besides the selfish reason that I want people walking around in Downtown (yes, that is true), I also really, REALLY want people to be engaged and happy in our community. Because we all win.
 
I hope to see you on the streets soon!