Companies Have Always Provided Community. We Still Need That.

In the late 19th century, the Cadbury brothers moved their cocoa factory out of central Birmingham. (For the sake of my American readers, this is the makers of the Cadbury eggs of Eastertime – though Hershey actually produces them in the U.S.) Operations had expanded such that they needed more space to grow, while staying close to both rail transport and canals to receive the various products necessary to manufacture the chocolate. They ultimately chose a large rural area and built what became Bournville, one of the most prominent “model villages” in the U.K. Over the years they built for their workers an entire self-contained, employer-provided town including housing, schools, places of worship, pubs (though, as Quakers, no alcohol was served in them) and outdoor spaces. In the United States, during the same era, “company towns” were similarly being built, especially in places where industries like coal mining were popular. Like the Cadbury brothers, these American companies needed workers to relocate to rural areas and were motivated to provide what they saw as healthy (morally and physically) communities where their employees would thrive, and in turn be productive contributors for the company.

The concept of such towns was obviously practical: if you need a large number of employees, and a stable, productive workforce, you could heavily influence their lives if you literally built most of the resources around them. An entire community was tied together not only through a common employer, but also by a (literally) shared space. The lines were blurred between colleague and neighbour, workplace and home. For employees, it meant safe housing, clean water, education and health services were all guaranteed as it was in the company’s interest to keep their workers in healthy living conditions.

We no longer need company housing. But we do need company community.

While Bournville remains a highly desirable place to live, and Cadbury a major employer in the area, the ideals (and necessity) of a model village has faded. And in the United States, the New Deal gave workers minimum wage, access to health care, and affordable mortgages – removing the appeal of a company town. But workplaces remain a community for its workers. Large corporate settings provide canteens, gyms, childcare facilities and other services. Like the Cadburys, these employers want to provide resources that support productivity. And for the employee, they offer social and emotional connections to colleagues that extend beyond the job itself. The American corporate pastime – the softball team – is perhaps one of the best examples of colleagues-as-community.

But a 2023 report found that 87% of American workers who have a job that can be performed remotely, work in hybrid (43%) or fully remote (34%) arrangements. In the U.K., 40% of workers were not in the office full time in 2023. But, everyone may have lost something as our shared spaces become more temporary and transient – a place to come work a few days per week and attend a team meeting. The community, the sense of belonging to something larger with others, feels hard to achieve when everyone isn’t together, most of the time. Certainly we all benefit from the freedom to work remotely, live where we choose, and have more flexible schedules than the commitment to a 19th century company town. But again and again employers and employees have evolved in what they need from what a workplace. Through the beginning of this century, companies like Google and Facebook built a new model of workplace, campuses filled with amenities for their employees. The New York Times described in 2013 a Google office and the dizzying scope of services:

A labyrinth of play areas; cafes, coffee bars and open kitchens; sunny outdoor terraces with chaises; gourmet cafeterias that serve free breakfast, lunch and dinner; Broadway-theme conference rooms with velvet drapes; and conversation areas designed to look like vintage subway cars.

The library looks as if Miss Scarlet (from the board game Clue) has just stepped out. . . A bookcase swings open to reveal a secret room and even more private reading area. Next to the recently expanded Lego play station, employees can scurry up a ladder that connects the fourth and fifth floors, where a fiendishly challenging scavenger hunt was in progress. Dogs strolled the corridors alongside their masters, and a cocker spaniel was napping . . .outside one of the dining areas.

The goal of all of this, is of course, to keep employees, happy — and at work longer. But it also means, almost certainly, building more connections and friendships. Yes, mentorship and networking and other benefits that directly impact professional success. But like the churches and schools of Bournville of the 1800s, Google in the 21st century was also creating more generally a community. Today, whether people work remotely part of the time or all of the time, we spend less time at the workplace. At the same time, there is far less employee loyalty, and – not unrelated, I think – more ‘workplace loneliness’. Even if you are far from family, and live alone, a workplace provided a destination with built-in community, shared interests (at least professionally) and the infrastructure to connect with others. Now, we don’t go to the place where that community was, at least not every day.

From company towns to company canteens, employees still need company community.

In the future, employers who retain their talent long-term will almost certainly have to pivot the workplace again to meet the new needs of employees. How do you create community for your teams, not only to serve your own productivity goals, but to create emotional connections among individuals. We seem to live in an increasingly polarised world, we struggle to both embrace our much-needed diversity with a shared sense of purpose. And fortunately, people do not rely upon their employers for basic services like housing and education. But they may still rely on their employers for workplaces as community. There is no evidence that anyone has yet truly redesigned the post-pandemic workplace to achieve that. A community that can be fostered even if its members are only present 60 to 80 percent of the time – and some not at all. How will employers meet the new needs of a workforce that needs community but not a commute? It’s the latest challenge in the ongoing evolution of work and workplace.

This article first appeared on The Robert Kovach Blog.

Dr. Robert Kovach has spent his entire career working as a trusted advisor to senior leaders wanting to improve the effectiveness of themselves, their teams and their companies. Prior to starting his own consulting firm, Robert led the global executive assessment and development team for Cisco. Earlier in his career Robert held leadership roles with RHR International, PepsiCo, Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School and the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.