Tag: Employee Engagement

Friends With Your Co-Workers

Should You Be Friends With Your Co-Workers?

An average person spends about 90,000 hours at work. These hours are equivalent to one-third of a person’s life. During this time, there are higher chances that an individual will meet new people at work. There are also chances that an individual would want to make friends with their colleagues. Making or not making friends with co-workers can be an individual preference as both decisions come with an array of advantages and disadvantages. Being friends with your co-workers has been proven to help increase job success. At the same time, many strongly believe that people who work in a toxic environment should avoid making friends with colleagues. The question arises: should you be friends with your co-workers or not? If you want to know, read on. Job Satisfaction Undoubtedly, many people spend most of their time at work, which is tiring. That is why many people try to diversify the working process with friendly relations. Findings have shown that when people make friends with their co-workers, it helps increase job satisfaction. Moreover, it helps perform better at different designated tasks and can motivate people to want to take part in other projects. Making friends with co-workers can bring higher morale, so you are always motivated to perform at your best. You will want to show more commitment to your work and the organization as a whole. Your colleagues will always motivate you whenever you feel down or tired about a specific task. Even when you are off from work, they can always cover for you, especially when you have an unfinished project that is due. Mutual Trust, Care, And Respect Beyond discussing workplace-related matters, there is more to getting along with your co-workers. Think about a nice time after work hours. Spending some time at the cinema or doing outdoor activities at the weekend can positively impact your friendship. You can enjoy a better work relationship by asking each other questions freely, discussing ideas, and solving issues. Indeed, the friendship you build at your place of work can sometimes last for a lifetime whether you remain in the organization or not. A workplace friendship built this way will create more respect, trust, and care. You would always want to check and look after each other. According to the Australian Institute of Management's poll, good relationship with co-workers is an integral part of finding friends for a long time. Read Also: 7 Fun and Simple Outdoor Activities for Your Child Under Ten Employee Engagement Friendship with co-workers can be a great way to increase employee engagement. Seeing a close friend who is busy with tasks assigned to them can motivate you to engage more. This is backed up by a workplace study by Gallup in 2012 where employees who worked in the same place with their close friends admitted that seeing their best friends at their workplace helps them engage better in the working process. When workers became more professional at work, they ignored friendships. Psychological And Social Support Findings have shown that women are more enthusiastic about making friends at their workplaces to get emotional and social support whenever they are stressed. Men, on the other hand, want to make friends with co-workers that will benefit their careers. They also want to make friends to help them finish pending tasks or job duties whenever they arise. If you have friends at work, you feel happier and more supported which results in the improvement of your psychological state. You can always ask for help or advice, or just tell something that is bothering you. If you want to make friends at work but do not know how, find phone numbers or emails of people you work with. You can do it on Nuwber, BeenVerified, or AnyWho. Try to find their social media accounts and send them a nice message. Why Should You Not Make Friends With Your Co-Workers? Too many benefits lie in making friends at the workplace. However, you may also be doing more harm than good if you do not know how to handle being friends with people you work with. Here are some reasons why workplace friendship may not be good for you. 1. Fallout Can Be Unpleasant To be honest, if you prioritize socializing with your friends at the workplace over your office duties, your work process will suffer and may lead to unproductivity. You will make a smart move if you do not mix personal interests with office duties because when the friendship hits a rock, the outcome will be negative. What if you divulge career-related information to the wrong person? The outcome may be more terrible. It may take a toll on your emotional being and overall wellness. If you do not make friends with your co-workers, you will not have an emotional attachment to gossip at the workplace. You will not be concerned with unnecessary discussions or workplace politics. You can then focus better on assigned tasks. Do not forget that you can always enjoy your job even when you are not closely related to those you sit with within the cubicle. 2. Co-Workers Can Question Your Motives This is another reason why being friends with your colleagues is not worth it. In some cases, if you have a good rapport with your boss, co-workers may accuse you of being a favorite worker, especially if it is related to being promoted. This is why it is often better to remain neutral and not build strong friendships. Every step you take becomes suspicious and co-workers may use anything against you that may cost you your promotion, especially if you have gossiped about your boss in the past. 3. Jealousy May Set In There are chances that you will have one jealous person among your fellow employees. Take, for instance, if you are someone that loves nice wear. Others who have no taste in fashion may think you are trying to stand out. Even if this does not relate to the way you dress, jealous colleagues will not hesitate to hate you for anything when you are doing well. Conclusion Making friends with your colleagues can be good and at the same time something that should not be worth considering. In most cases, it is best to stay neutral. However, both decisions come with pros and cons. When you decide to think about whether to make friends at work or not, compare all the benefits with the drawbacks and make your choice. Additionals: Understanding How Employee Recognition Can Aid Your Consulting Firm Things to Consider When Sourcing Employees for Manufacturing Plants 5 ways employee perks can dramatically enhance your personal life

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Employee Engagement

3 Ways to Boost Employee Engagement in Your Business

Whatever stage your business is at, employee engagement and general satisfaction should always be at the forefront of your mind. No business can run without its employees and at the heart of good business, the operation is making sure that your labor force is produced. There have been countless studies into the effects of high employee satisfaction on company-wide efficiency, all of which indicate that happy employees are productive ones. Employee engagement is an extension of this satisfaction. Happy employees are more likely to care about the company’s mission and goals, aligning their own success with the businesses. This is the core concept of employee engagement; staff who innovate and work hard because they care about what they do and see the value in the organization that they work for. Boosting employee engagement promotes business growth and employee retention. the question is how can you, as an employer, improve engagement levels? Here are three ideas that we have put together with that question in mind. Team Building Events: Whilst team building is often viewed with skepticism, the truth is that it can have a drastic impact on how productive your employees are. Team building offers multiple benefits from an employee engagement perspective, here are some examples: The most obvious benefit is that a good team building activity is fun. Enjoyable events breaking up working life are always appreciated by staff and as we have discussed, happy employees are engaged ones. This morale boost from enjoying something fun has a ripple effect around your organization, with this positive mindset remaining effective for a very long time. Another benefit, which is much more underestimated, is the learning opportunities available. Team building activities aren’t designed to solely be fun, they are meant to have a learning outcome. Team building is almost a fun form of training, where staff practice skills that will benefit them at work and in turn, benefit your business. These are just two examples of the benefits. With a little research, you will be able to discover what a well-placed team building event can really do. Rewards and Recognition: Implementing an effective rewards system is another great way of improving employee engagement. Positive reinforcement is an incredibly strong force, which is why publicly rewarding your best employees is so powerful. Not only does this encourage your hardest workers to continue putting the effort in, but it also pushes the rest of the staff to match their level and try to achieve the same recognition. There are countless ways to reward employees, ranging from simple thank you to fully paid lunches. The key to successfully rewarding employees in a constructive manner is to make rewards both attainable and equal in value to the achievement they are associated with. Don’t give a salesman a box of chocolates for making the company millions, that will seem a little lackluster for what they have done. Information Availability: As a final, less concrete point, ensuring that your employees know the businesses goals and moral ethics is extremely important. To encourage your employees to align themselves with your business you require multiple ingredients. Firstly, they need to be happy. Secondly, they need to enjoy working for you and care about the company’s success. Finally, they need to be aware of the company’s goals and mission. Many organizations struggle with this third and final point. These companies have incredible cultures where everyone loves coming to work but nobody is aware of where the company wants to be and what their vision is for the future. Without this information, employees can never reach total engagement because they don’t know what they should be targeting. Making your organization’s vision and mission statements visible is absolutely essential towards improving employee engagement. These goals should be at the core of everything that the company does, embedding them into the workforce and uniting every employee in targeting the same goals. This is how true engagement is achieved. There is much more to employee engagement than just these three points. People are extremely complicated, and every organization is unique, which is why you have to tailor your approach to your specific business. Try different techniques and see what works, just keep in mind that happy, staff are engaged and engaged staff are productive, which is exactly what you need to grow your business. Read Also: 7 Ways To Hire Seasonal Staff For Your Business Is Your Company Offering Enough To Potential Employees? 7 Ways To Boost Employee Productivity And Create A Positive Culture Choosing The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms To Sell Your Used Machinery Why Every Business Holder Should Start Using The Drip Marketing Campaign Victor Mitchell, Serial Entrepreneur On How To Retain Your Top Employees While Growing Your Business

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