3 things that affect your sense of belonging at work
Do you feel like you don’t belong at work? Science provides some explanations for why this can happen. Take a look at these things that impact belonging and see if they’re happening in your workplace.
*This page may contain affiliate links; This means I earn money by purchasing qualifying products.
For example, if you have to wear a red shirt and another team has to wear blue shirts, your ideas about who “we” and who “they” are begin to change. The same thing happens if you are assigned a position of authority or assigned to a group based on your score. Suddenly you start maximizing profit for the members of your group and minimizing profit for the other group.
Of course, this can help explain many of the problems that exist around the world, but it also causes major problems at the local level, in our workplaces, especially in the age of technology.
Here are three things companies often do to make people feel like outsiders:
Are you a therapist, coach or wellness entrepreneur?
Take ours Free e-book to learn how to do it
Grow your wellness business exponentially!
✓ Save hundreds of hours ✓ Earn more money faster
✓ Increase your credibility ✓ Offer effective content
1. Give people “different colored shirts.”
Do managers wear black shirts while employees wear red shirts? Do warehouse workers wear jeans while office workers wear dresses or suits? Do employees receive awards, badges, or other recognition that sets them apart from other employees? Are there circles of people and other squares in the Slack channel? These are all signals we use to recognize who is “one of us” and who is not – and treat them accordingly.
This approach makes perfect sense if we want to improve competition, for example if sports teams wear different colored jerseys. But in the workplace, we should all be on the same team. Once people feel alienated from their own team, they start to compete instead of collaborate. It’s just human nature.
2. Use non-inclusive language.
Certainly, the increasing use of the term “team members” in the workplace should increase group cohesion. The irony is that soon almost 40% of the workforce will be self-employed – whether freelance, contractor or temp. These individuals are not considered “team members” when it comes to benefits and company ownership, and they are often not considered team members by management. What do you think happens when team members have to work with all these non-team members? That’s correct. This creates an “us versus them” dynamic.
In the age of technology, hiring contractors or remote employees is becoming more common. In fact, freelance positions are increasingly being filled by the best and the brightest, people who don’t want to limit themselves to a single position or company. Creating a dynamic that makes these people feel like outsiders is a good recipe for losing them.
3. Treat remote workers poorly.
More and more companies are recruiting remote employees. This approach allows them to hire employees from all over the world. Unfortunately, remote work prevents employees from doing much of team building in the office. The “us versus them” dynamic begins to form simply by being “here versus there.”
In summary: There are many ways that companies can unintentionally make their employees feel like outsiders. I hope we can break down some of these walls so people can feel a sense of belonging in their workplace.
Sign up for more wellness…delivered straight to your inbox.
