Social interaction is essential for employees’ well-being and job performance at work. Unfortunately, establishing a true personal connection with others at work is not always easy, especially when your colleagues are scattered around different locations, with some people working remotely from home.
Workplace interaction in the hybrid office
Being physically present at the workplace is no longer a requirement for many in an office job, at least not 100% of the time. This has its benefits when one’s job is not limited by the city or even country, they live in. In addition, finding a balance between one’s work and private life is easier when commuting is no longer a daily chore. In many ways this sounds only like a good thing, improving office workers’ job satisfaction, reducing workplace stress, and enabling hiring across borders.
However, missing those daily, seemingly meaningless workplace interactions can have its drawbacks too. Social interaction and so-called “watercooler talk” are essential in creating a great workplace culture and building work relationships that may grow into friendships even outside of the office. Fully remote work and hybrid meetings do not allow such casual and more intimate interaction at the workplace, for example during team meetings and face-to-face discussions.
Positive interactions at the workplace
Successful workplace interactions can have a great impact on employees’ emotional well-being, sense of belonging, job satisfaction, and even physical health. Here are some ways to enable positive interactions at work:
- Facilitate open communication. When employees feel like they can speak up their minds, they do not hesitate to bring issues and conflicts to light. If there is no open venue to discuss even the negative aspects of work then supervisors do not know how to improve and fix things.
- Enable casual workplace interaction. All discussions at work should not be just serious meetings and business. Less formal interaction with co-workers helps employees build quality work relationships and makes them feel like they are part of a welcoming work environment.
- Use technology. Remote and hybrid work has its challenges when it comes to connecting with fellow workers. That is why companies involve even employees who are not physically present in everyday social interaction. Encourage employees to have casual conversations or arrange quick remote meetings with the only function of catching up with others at work.
Creating a personal connection at the hybrid office
Bridging the gap between remote and in-person workers is a concern many hybrid offices face. Although most remote workers prefer working from home and can create a better balance between their work and personal life that way, true connection with co-workers can be a challenge through the computer screen. These things can help establish positive interactions in the hybrid workplace:
- Agree on common rules. Make plans to come together at the office once per week or have monthly get-togethers with distant co-workers. Discuss important work tasks when meeting in person, but do not forget casual interaction and team-building activities that can enforce a welcoming work culture.
- Create a virtual water cooler. In the past, people would convene around the water cooler to chat about topics that might have nothing to do with work. Although the office is primarily for doing your job, some off-time and less serious social interaction is needed for people’s psychological well-being.
- Do not rely too much on technology. Take full advantage of different technological tools to help foster positive interactions at work. Just make sure not to overwhelm people with too many new technological tools. Office workers already have to juggle many different pieces of software to do their everyday work, and new ones may cause unnecessary distractions and loss of focus.
Framery office pods are perfect for interacting with employees working remotely or calling in from offices in other cities. The soundproof pods are the best alternative for sizeable meeting or conference rooms, and provide much-needed privacy in a noisy office environment. The single-person Framery One and Framery One Compact make video calls easy while Framery Four and Framery Six meeting pods are large enough for small teams or private face-to-face conversations.
Framery Contact revolutionizes interaction at the workplace
Remote work and video meetings create their own challenges when it comes to successful workplace interaction with coworkers. Many nuances are lost when we cannot see most non-verbal cues during a conversation, not to mention only hearing the other person’s voice instead of their face and the rest of the body. Many technological innovations have tried to solve this but none have reached anything resembling real face-to-face interaction – until now.
Framery Contact lets you experience workplace interaction like never before. To allow true contact with those we work with on a daily basis, Framery Contact brings authentic face-to-face interaction to remote meetings. With our revolutionary video conferencing technology, Framery Contact enables virtual workplace interaction without the limitations of traditional video meetings.
Read more about Framery Contact and how we are changing workplace interaction in the hybrid work environment.
