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Strengthening Work Relationships

A third of workers are unhappy with their careers, according to a study by Jobsite, the online recruiter. And this can lead to a fall in morale in the office, which in turn can cause a business to operate at a less-than-satisfactory level.

“Company productivity,” claims the report, “is tightly linked to motivation in a workplace”. And this can create a “toxic environment” that frequently causes disruption and makes poor use of people’s valuable time. Bosses say they spend an average of a fifth of their working day on bust-ups between employees, and according to a survey by human resources consultancy Morgan and Banks, more than 25% of office workers resign over rows with colleagues.

However, occupational psychologists believe that both the morale and productivity of a business can be improved by strengthening working relationships.

This means developing communications with colleagues – something that many of us fail to do, preferring to be content with the ‘safety zone’ of our current allegiances and contacts.

The advancement of working relationships into stronger bonds means having to take risks and acting swiftly, claims the business psychology company OCG. It believes that “people need to form [healthy] relationships very rapidly” because of the high-paced nature in which projects are often dealt with by companies, with people thrown together into teams that are soon disbanded.

OCG holds workshops that encourage employees to be open about themselves in order to create a bond of trust with other members of staff. People are asked to discuss not just their strengths, but also the areas in which they may be lacking.

But doing this, says OCG, requires levels of emotional maturity and confidence that may not exist among workers who may also be unable to provide the supportive environment necessary for successful bonding.

However, it is still possible for colleagues to not get on but still be able to work together effectively. By getting to know what each other does, understanding each other’s skills, experience and aims and by working towards a shared goal, workers with personal differences can often achieve much that benefits both the company and their careers.

The University of Sheffield’s Institute of Work Psychology says that we must “appreciate others’ perceptions and avoid judging them if their views differ from [ours]”.

This can help prove that people whose methods or attitudes we regard as ‘different’ are not necessarily the making of an incompetent or disloyal employee.

It can even lead to the thawing of frosty personal relationships as workers who previously shared a ‘toxic’ relationship talk through their differences (a process that can at times seem difficult) and get to know more about each other over the course of working closely together.

And talking – once anathema to bosses who hung signs reading ‘Less talk, more work’ – is one of the best ways in which we can form friendships that help us perform better in our jobs.

Encouraging workers to chat, be it about their jobs or last night’s television, helps avoid a lack of trust that can be detrimental to a businesses operations and is regarded by sociologist Ray Pahl as part and parcel of the modern workplace.

In his book Friendship, he writes: “As employees are encouraged to watch their own backs… they are less likely to trust and make friends with colleagues from work.”

But evidence contradicts this claim and suggests that a third of us make most of our friends at work. This is because our busy lives allow for little other social interaction.

This often leads to socialising at the end of the working day – usually in a bar or pub. And while drinking with colleagues is a healthy way to strengthen work relationships, it can also be destructive if allowed to get out of hand.

The structures and routines of the office become blurred or thrown aside, but they cannot be forgotten entirely if people want to maintain their professionalism – or indeed keep hold of their jobs.

An employee getting drunk and then berating the boss may seem like a cliché, but it is, sadly, an all-too-common situation in pubs on weekday evenings. Further reading see the UK Net Guide articles How to Handle a Difficult Boss, Dealing with Stress and Are You in the Wrong Job?