Are we making meaningful connections in a hybrid world?

With all the technological strings connecting us — Zoom meetings, chat, email and collaboration spaces — we have spent more time with our coworkers this year than we ever have before. However, that time is spent through a screen, at a distance. Does this time together serve to build trust, drive insights and increase true collaboration?

Now, more than ever, we’re feeling the need for meaningful connections. It’s crucial that we turn our attention to growing and establishing significant relationships within the context of the evolving work environment. The increasing shift toward the hybrid workforce underscores the need for leadership to think beyond traditional strategies to engage workers, enable team performance and sustain employee connections.

All the lonely people

Before we talk about connection, we need to talk about what happens when we don’t have a connection with others, including our colleagues. Although loneliness was an issue before the pandemic, over the past two years, Americans reported feeling increasingly lonely. According to the American Psychological Association’s report, “Stress in America 2020,” 63 percent of Generation Z adults (aged 18 to 23) reported feeling very lonely, with 53 percent of millennials, 43 percent of Generation X and 35 percent of baby boomers echoing the sentiment.

If the most connected generation is feeling disconnected, there is truly cause for alarm. Loneliness, as a factor of stress, has an impact on worker productivity. In its annual “2020 Loneliness Index,” global insurance company Cigna reported that each lonely worker could cost their employer roughly $4,200 annually in days lost. Three in five adults report being lonely. Apply that statistic to the workforce and we find that roughly 97 million lonely workers are in the workforce. Apply further and we’ll see that loneliness could cost American companies roughly $406 billion annually.

But it’s not just dollars and cents. If you align with Abraham Maslow’s theory on the hierarchy of needs, we’re reminded that humans must have basic needs met to be healthy and productive. Although the workforce might have their physiological needs met, many workers are struggling with a sense of safety due to the pandemic, as well as love and belonging and friendship due to the isolation and virtual nature of work. To support our employees, we must create hybrid workplaces that are rich in meaningful connections, whether they’re in person or remote. To support meaningful connections in a hybrid workplace, leaders can reframe the connections we emphasize, leverage technology to facilitate connection from a range of angles, and emphasize celebration to promote connection.

Intentionally focus on building friendships and connections

We don’t exactly go to work to make friends, but many of us want a workplace where we feel like we belong and have a shared purpose with others, which ultimately can lead to making friends. Investing in the conditions that create workplace friendships can be beneficial. In 2021, when the U.K.-based team-building company Wildgoose surveyed workers from 1,052 companies around the U.K., it found that 57 percent of workers said having a work best friend makes their work more enjoyable, and 22 percent said having a work best friend makes them more productive.

Although leaders don’t need to be — and nor should they be — that workplace best friend, they should be intentional about encouraging friendships among colleagues, especially in a hybrid work environment. Too often, we find ourselves in a series of Zoom meetings where we are focused only on the work at hand and not the connections we can foster. For starters, leaders can facilitate more one-on-ones and provide the chance to connect outside of a large Zoom meeting. Managers should take what they know about their direct reports and encourage those with common interests to chat. Just because you have a hybrid work team doesn’t mean you need to eliminate face-to-face connections. Coffee breaks, meals and walks are also great ways to build connections. At the same time, you need to ensure that you provide equity for the remote members of your team.

There’s also the often-overlooked connection of the team. We’ve all done it: We’re gathered together in a team meeting and we dive right into business, hoping to plow through the issues at hand so we can move on to the next meeting or the next task on the list. But when we focus only on business, we leave valuable opportunities for connection hovering just out of reach.

Reinforce a connection to the organization’s purpose and values

Leaders should also consider their employees’ connection to the company. Employees are individuals with their own identities; companies, too, have identities. When we are virtual in an organization, it’s harder to define and embrace a company’s culture. According to a 2018 Gallup article, employees feel engaged when they see their identity aligns with the organization’s identity. For example, take an employee who values diversity. When they look around their organization and see a diverse and inclusive workplace, they feel as though they and their company are in alignment.

Engaged employees are more likely to stay with their organization. Leaders can help foster this sense of engagement during remote and in-person meetings through visioning and strategic planning sessions.

Finally, there’s a meaningful connection to the work itself. According to a TLNT article, when employees feel that their presence in the workplace makes a difference and the work they do has special meaning, they are more engaged in the workplace. Leaders can highlight employees’ contributions regularly to nurture that sense of connection.

Leverage technology to increase human connection

According to Cigna’s Loneliness Index, one factor of workplace loneliness may be an unbalanced use of workplace technology. Of course, technology in the workplace is a given and a constant. Without the low hum of electricity in any office, the workplace would be a truly quiet place. In the same Cigna report, 61 percent of workers agree that the use of technology at work helps them feel more connected to their coworkers.

Because workplace tech isn’t going anywhere, it’s important to ensure that tech affords greater connections between employees. How might this look? Perhaps Slack or Microsoft Teams channels that give employees the space to connect on out-of-the-office interests. Create opportunities to develop new interests like virtual yoga, team cooking sessions, book clubs or opportunities to share charitable interests through a discussion board in Teams. You can use technologies like videos, Mural boards or discussion threads to connect synchronously or semi-synchronously.

Take time to celebrate the wins and learn from the losses

We are all guilty of not giving positive feedback, but in these days of waning personal connections, celebrating our wins can bring us closer together. But how can this look in a hybrid workplace when we’re connected through a Zoom meeting or a team chat?

It’s easier than we might think. Leaders can start and end meetings with shout-outs and affirmations, or have entire meetings dedicated to uplifting sentiments. Think Gratitude Fridays, during which colleagues share one thing they’ve been grateful for in the past week, or Marvelous Mondays, when teammates share something good that happened to them over the weekend. We can combat loneliness by nurturing these celebrations.

Just as important as celebrating the wins is learning from the losses. With the right approach, sharing around a failure or challenge can be bonding for the team. Stop, reflect and avoid the urge to simply move on to the next task or project.

Look beyond the work to see the worker

If you looked to 2021 as the balm to soothe yourself after the turbulence of 2020, you were probably disappointed when the new year just brought a continuation of the previous year. When we circle back to the APA’s report, “Stress in America 2020,” America is facing a “national mental health crisis that could yield serious health and social consequences for years to come.” Additionally, 60 percent of respondents say the number of issues America currently faces is overwhelming to them. The problems, it seems, are simply piling up.

Managers are in a unique position: With their one-on-ones with direct reports, they have insight into the issues their employees are up against. It’s critical that managers channel those insights into the support their employees need, demonstrating their meaningful connections. Rather than being one of the many problems, employers must commit to providing those supportive connections, whether employees are returning to the office, have always been remote or are navigating through the developing hybrid workplace.