Enboarder Research Reveals the Value of Human Connection in the Workplace

As organizations contend with increasingly dispersed workforces, new data from Enboarder shows 50% of managers struggle to provide enough human connection for their teams

Enboarder, a leading employee communication and workflow platform designed to deliver engaging human-centric employee journeys, released new research uncovering the integral role of human connection in boosting employee well-being at work and how organizations can create environments for connections to thrive – resulting in a more productive, innovative and engaged workforce.

Enboarder surveyed 1,000 U.S.-based employees in August 2022 to understand employees’ connections in the workplace, how employers facilitate (or hinder) these interactions and notable workplace outcomes that come from connectedness. The report reveals human connection in the workplace markedly improved over the last year: 93% of employees feel connected to their coworkers and over half (56%) feel very connected. When Enboarder surveyed employees in August 2021, only 83% felt connected to their coworkers and just 31% felt very connected.

While the state of human connection in the workplace has improved over the past 12 months, organizations cannot lose sight of what could hinder this progress. The report found that an unsupportive or passive manager (29%), lack of transparency (26%) and working remotely (19%) are top factors generating disconnectedness among employees.

HR Technology News: Amazon Is Hiring 150,000 Employees To Help Deliver Great Holiday Experiences

“Relationships are so important to our sense of connection at work, they are the building blocks of any successful organization,” said Brent Pearson, founder and CEO at Enboarder. “The work you do to foster relationships and connection drives business results. This survey found connected employees are twice as likely to believe their workplace is innovative and feel motivated to go above and beyond. In a time when there is low unemployment and high employee turnover, it’s crucial that organizations create better human connections across their team, inviting engagement and building alignment along every step of the employee experience — from onboarding to learning and development, performance management, career growth, organizational change, and every moment and milestone along the way.”

Other key findings from Enboarder’s new report include:

• The office is now a means to build stronger relationships with coworkers. Prior to the pandemic, the office was mostly a place to go to do work. Today, employees see the office primarily as a community hub – completing work comes second. Over half (57%) of hybrid and full-time in-office respondents named the ability to form stronger relationships as the No. 1 most important benefit of going into the office. Forming stronger relationships ranked higher than other impactful in-office benefits like better separation of work and personal life (44%), improved productivity (38%) and improved motivation (14%). Only 3% of respondents don’t don’t find any value in going into the office.
• Connection drives down turnover while mitigating “quiet quitting.” Enboarder’s report found connection has the power to move the needle on key business outcomes. Employees who feel connected are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs (96%) versus employees who feel disconnected (60%). Only 13% of connected employees expect to leave their current role within 12 months, and this answer nearly doubles for disconnected employees (24%). In addition to improved job satisfaction and retention rates, connection contributes to stronger work outputs and motivation. Connected employees were twice as likely to agree their workplace motivates them to go above and beyond their job responsibilities.

HR Technology News: Hippo Welcomes Kelly Wolf As Chief Human Resources Officer

• Virtual bonding events aren’t enough to build a sense of connection for remote employees. While 19% of all disconnected employees say they feel disconnected because they work remotely (at least in some capacity), this statistic jumps when looking exclusively at full-time remote employees (63%). Organizations can’t rely on virtual bonding events to forge lasting connections – especially for remote and hybrid workers. Employees across all work situations selected team meetings and 1:1s with managers as two of the three top activities that help them feel connected in the workplace, while virtual bonding events ranked in the lowest two activities for all groups.
• Millennial and Gen Z managers are struggling most in driving connection. The absence of a good manager plays a significant role in employees’ level of connection and engagement with their company. Enboarder found employees who are very disconnected were twice as likely to say it’s because their manager doesn’t provide much support and/or invest in their professional development. From the manager perspective, half of the people managers surveyed confirmed they are struggling to provide enough human connection for their direct reports. That number jumps to 60% for millennial managers and 65% for Gen Z managers compared to Gen X (42%) and baby boomers (32%).

HR Technology News: HR Technology Highlights – HR Tech Daily Round-Up For 7 October 2022