Even if we don’t consider our co-workers friends or family, the truth is that we spend most of our waking hours in their company. We learn each other’s habits and personality quirks, how we prefer to communicate, our strengths and weaknesses – in fact, co-workers often establish a relationship closer with one another than is possible with friends outside of our workplace given the busy, hectic nature of our adult lives.
It’s essential for every business to recognize our natural tendency to desire companionship and that positive employee relationships can be a huge benefit to the efficiency and performance of the business. Employees with friends at work tend to view their workplace in a more positive way, which decreases absenteeism and turnover rate. They are also more likely to feel united in a common mission and want to succeed for the larger good of the company.
Certainly, there are “sticky areas” when it comes to employee relationships and it can often be difficult to know how much of an impact certain incidents should have on your business strategy.
Nepotism and Hiring
For most, the word “nepotism” has a negative connotation. If a company or boss is accused of nepotism, it suggests that employees were hired or promoted for the wrong reasons: Basically, that they were hired because of their friendship or family ties with someone in the company and not for their experience or skill set.
However, if you take a step back and think of the real-world hiring process, most employees are encouraged to reach out to their networks to share open job recommendations. Many companies have referral incentives that offer bonuses to employees to successfully refer someone for an in-house position. One of the benefits of this strategy is that hiring someone that a current employee can vouch for can help to eliminate candidates who are poor cultural fits, which is often difficult to figure out in just a handful of interviews.
Therefore a certain level of “nepotism” can be successfully incorporated into your hiring strategy as long as a candidate’s skill sets and experience are taken into account. Bringing in a few candidates who are not employee referrals is also important so that you can confirm that your referrals are the best fit for the job when compared to the rest of the applicant pool.
Romantic Relationships in the Workplace
Most HR policies include basic guidelines regarding romantic relationships in the workplace. Generally, relationships between managers and their reports are against company policy because of company liability. Relationships between peers are sometimes frowned upon, but usually deemed okay if reported to HR.
But what happens next?
Most companies don’t know how to react if employees violate the above policy and end up either ignoring the situation or over-reacting. Therefore, consider putting a strategy in place for how your company would handle a situation in which high-performing employees at your company begin dating, especially if one person is in a position superior to the other. Would you insist that they end their relationship? Would you fire one or both employees? Would you rearrange the organization so that the reporting relationship was no longer an issue? All of these solutions will have an effect on how you run your business and set a precedent for future occurrences.
Employee Relationships and Company Culture
A company’s culture is an important differentiating factor for a workplace, and it can have a huge impact on whether an employee is successful in their position. Most businesses recognize the importance of having a strong culture, which is why you can often find details about office life on their career website.
A crucial component of your company’s culture is the relationships that employees build with one another. Some companies spend lots of cash on “mixer” events and happy hours to encourage employees to get to know one another. Although these types of events can help, it’s not essential to have a big budget to promote positive relationships among co-workers.
The freedom to create friendships is usually more effective than “forced” social interactions, which can automatically put more introverted employees on the defense.
Simply providing enough time and space in a workday for co-workers to take a breather and indulge in some small talk while getting a second cup of coffee can help build a foundation. Companies that provide lunch on a regular basis can help encourage more laid back interaction, too; employees feel satisfied and have more time in their lunch break to talk to their co-workers. It also makes employees feel like their employer really cares about their well-being!
