You work with your colleagues for around 47 weeks of the year, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day so it’s hard not to get to know them on a personal level, making friends (and occasionally enemies!) along the way. But is this everybody’s experience of work or are there some employees that simply do their job and go home, without engaging with others around them?
Everybody is different, but surely spending that much time with the same people, it’s hard NOT to build some kind of relationship with them?
http://staffmotivationmatters.co.uk/how-positive-are-your-working-relationships/
Recognise the importance of working relationships
A survey published by support charity Samaritans and insurance firm Simplyhealth shows that getting on well with people you work with is the most fulfilling part of a job.
42% of workers felt positive relationships helped them to feel good at work, compared with a mere 14% for hitting their targets (line managers take note!).
Not having a good relationship with colleagues could hinder staff performance or potentially prevent them from speaking up where necessary, so getting a good rapport with colleagues is essential in the workplace.
In the survey of more than 1,400 workers, having a good work/life balance was the second most common reason for feeling good at work (with 40% of the vote), followed by receiving praise (26%) and earning the trust of their boss (with 16%).
Mark Day, spokesperson for Simplyhealth said:
“Positive working relationships and feeling good while at work are really important when looking at overall employee health and wellbeing. Organisations with healthy, happy employees can find they see improvements in productivity and results.”
Rachel Kirby Rider, Samaritans’ director for fundraising and communications, said:
“The survey results demonstrate how looking out for each other’s wellbeing and having a good work / life balance is essential.”
From this survey, we can see that for employees to feel good at work, they need to have positive relationships with colleagues and receive regular praise from their bosses.
A peer to peer recognition programme can help with both areas. Recognition programmes can incorporate all kinds of activity, over and above the straight forward ‘thank you’. Why not include company events every quarter? Get your colleagues together for a quiz night, a company sports day or even an office jolly? Teams can also be recognised, awarding them with team nights out is sure to encourage bonding between colleagues and bring a positive feeling to your office!
http://staffmotivationmatters.co.uk/how-positive-are-your-working-relationships/
