Are you friendly with the people you work with? Can you say they are your friends? Befriending your colleagues can improve your health and wellbeing, which is why workplace friendships and strong work relationships just may be worth the effort.

Relationships are a vital part of our overall health and wellbeing. As human beings, we have an inherent desire to feel closeness and connectedness to other people. People who feel socially connected experience lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression, have higher self-esteem and feel more confident. In addition, some studies suggest that feelings of social connectedness can help strengthen your immune system and may even lengthen your life. 

Pre-Covid, most of us spent a significant amount of our time in the workplace, and for those who may not have a wide social circle outside of the office, our work can sometimes be our primary social circle. 

So how can our relationships at work improve not only our health and wellbeing but our performance as well? 
 

Boost your mood and increase happiness

Good friendships are one of the biggest influences of happiness in our lives. Feeling connected to ourselves and the people around us can give us a sense of belonging, which helps boost our mood and self-esteem. In addition, good workplace relationships allow you to feel more comfortable in your interactions with colleagues and sometimes less intimidated by networking and collaboration.

Having a friend at work that we can be ourselves with, chat about common interests, or even grab a quick coffee can help us feel more fulfilled and happier at work, leading to us being more productive and motivated in our role.;
 

Reduce work-related stress, prevent burnout – and make work more enjoyable

We are hardwired as humans to be social creatures. Since we spend a significant amount of hours at work each day, your workplace is an ideal place to make friends and socialise. While it may seem socialising on the job would be a distraction, studies show people who have friends at work are seven times as likely to be engaged in their work. 

When we feel disconnected or have strained relationships and interactions with our work colleagues, it can increase our stress levels at work and negatively impact our motivation and performance. Friendships and social connectedness at work provide us with the emotional and physical strength we need to deal with many of the work challenges that come our way. Whether it's meeting a tight deadline, embarking on a new project, or dealing with significant change at work, having someone in the office you can trust to confide in and seek support from can help reduce any stress you may be feeling and prevent burnout. 
 

Teamwork makes the dream work

Having good relationships with the people we work with helps us work better as a team. When you've formed a good relationship with someone and established a sense of trust, you feel more comfortable sharing your thoughts and ideas. We're also more likely to collaborate more and be open to learning from one another, which can improve our ability to solve problems, seek new information and speak out if something could be done more efficiently. 

Building work relationships in a world of Covid and hybrid working

Do you remember bumping into a colleague in the office kitchen, talking about holiday plans or a big project you're working on? Sometimes we just find ourselves in the right place at the right time, offering someone a missing piece of information or finding out something we'd never think to ask about.

These informal interactions in the workplace help build so-called social capital, which you accrue because of who you know. Someone may choose to help you, even if it's not part of their job remit. You accrue social capital through the work and effort you invest in supporting and getting to know your work colleagues, and it's key to a thriving workplace.

These days, people increasingly feel disconnected from their work, with some organisations reporting that remote working over the last two years has increased organisational silos. In looking back to 2020, Microsoft's most recent Work Trend Index shows that strong workplace relationships matter for many reasons, but two things are especially vital to an organisation's bottom line: productivity and innovation.

So how can organisations enable better work relationships, networking, and social capital in a world of Covid and hybrid working?

• If you're a people leader, try to be proactive about encouraging people to build their network, for example, through virtual coffee or networking discussions. 
• Go out of your way to connect people across departments. 
• Reward managers for highlighting and encouraging social capital building –  this is important because people want to feel that they exist in, and can contribute to, a work culture where social support thrives.
• Plan your online meetings well so there is time for small talk and banter, i.e. allowing for time to build meaningful connections with those on the call.

At Benestar, we've always strived towards a culture of kindness, fun, and cooperative collaboration. As much as hybrid and remote work offers numerous advantages to employees and organisations, this new way of working risks losing sight of the spontaneous, informal interactions we used to have in the workplace. 

A strong and positive social culture never just happens by itself. As hybrid working takes off in Australia, New Zealand and globally, we may need organisations to make a renewed concerted effort to foster connections and a healthy and thriving company culture