How to Make Your Employees Feel Like They Belong For Improved Productivity?

Creating a sense of belongingness is something that is valid in all spaces, personal and professional. It all comes down to building a social connection which is an important and fundamental need. When there is no belongingness, we can actually feel physically and psychologically stressed and unfulfilled.

On the other hand, if we have that sense of belongingness and inclusion, it becomes easier to create a more meaningful life. When an employer fosters a sense of belongingness in a professional environment, the employees can feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

Belongingness and a healthy association with co-workers can be a great motivator as compared to money, particularly for the employees who are deciding whether to stay or leave a job. Employees who feel a sense of belongingness and inclusion at their workplace are also more than likely to contribute to their maximum potential.

Employers must actively look for ways that can enhance a feeling of belongingness to an entire organization. This can be great for a business. When there is high belongingness, the job performance increases and turnover risk decreases. Let’s see what belongingness looks like in real practice?

Belongingness Inside a Workplace

It must be understood that what one person may feel at a workplace can be different from another. This can depend on personal traits, background, and future goals. However, there is evidence that sets the scene for belongingness can affect whether or not a person can feel like they belong and how successful they can be.

Most people can perform better when they feel like they belong. They can become a lot more willing to challenge themselves and more resilient. There are a couple of useful tips that can help to make employees feel like they belong for improved productivity.

Let’s check them out one by one.

1. Mentally Safe Space

All business teams must be formed on a foundation of trust and authenticity. Many people do not feel comfortable discussing how they are feeling mentally when they are at work. They feel that being vulnerable at work is not good and should be discouraged at all costs.

If a business is focused on the success of projects then it is very important to foster psychological safety and create a mentally safe space for everyone. One of the best ways to create a mentally safe space is by allowing the employees to take risks without any feeling of insecurity and shame if things do not spread out.

For setting a good foundation, the leaders must model vulnerability and authenticity which can often be as simple as discussing what has worked in the company’s initiatives and what has not. An employee should be given the room to be completely open and honest when something is going wrong.

Employers can empower employees to take calculated risks without the fear of failure. The truth is that even if someone is falling on their face, they are only moving forward. Leaders must create opportunities for employees to become an ally by amplifying their voices.

2. Fostering Inclusion

It is common for employees to feel like an outsider in a professional environment if control is not maintained. This causes them to further suppress the parts of themselves that make them unique from their colleagues. The feeling of being an outsider is extremely painful for an employee and creates a negative distraction that affects focus and work performance.

The workplace culture should promote individuality. The identity of all employees must be noticed and valued as well. Showing care for all employees and offering everyday opportunities can be helpful. In addition, creating workspace support, a sense of understanding and reliability reduce the likelihood of being an outsider.

The employer should ensure that no employee is left when it comes to informing about the opportunities of inclusion in everyday work. For communicating genuine support around the idea of belongingness, everyone must be made responsible for achieving organizational goals.

The employees must also be encouraged to value what their co-workers can bring to the table. There should be a working culture of caring for each other, advocating for each other’s voices to be heard and investing in collective growth and development. Lastly, one must also learn to incorporate employee input in the organizational values for building a more meaningful, equitable and inclusive role in the workplace.

3. Benefits and Initiatives

An organization must encourage benefits and initiatives on a regular basis for creating a sense of belongingness in a workspace. The benefits should be such that they are applicable to all demographic groups including flexible work scheduling and emotional wellness programs.

The idea is that the employees must feel cared for. Their needs and demands should be met consistently inside and outside of work. Signs of appreciation create a strong sense of belongingness amongst people. In fact, the inclusive benefits and initiatives also end up increasing the feelings of inclusion by a good percentage.

Companies can plan some initiatives that focus on promoting diversity in succession planning and holding celebratory events for highlighting groups that are not presented. This is very effective for fostering belongingness. Offering employee benefits and initiatives that honour their contribution helps in showing that business success is associated with employees feeling accepted in their organization.

4. Honouring Individual Identities

Most professionals who are proud of where they work feel that since the company has a positive working culture, they can be themselves freely. Efforts must be made to look for ways that can empower people to be their authentic selves at work.

The employees belong to different age groups, religions, races, and gender identities. Their differences must be celebrated and they should also be allowed to show up as their authentic selves, not another version of themselves. This begins with the leaders who are already at the top.

The self-expression must be carried over to the work contributions. The employees who have been working for some time should be allowed to redefine their roles based on the company’s goals and objectives. This is an excellent way to show trust and value the insight of an employee. In addition, it also allows an employee to expand their workspace while eventually benefiting the company.

5. Social Events

The lack of opportunities to socialize outside of work can have a negative impact on the employees. Efforts must be made to create social platforms where employees can meet and chat regularly on an informal basis.

Social spaces give the workmates an opportunity to connect at a deeper and healthier level. Social events are organized in a relaxed environment that promotes a sense of ease. Scheduling them regularly is one of the best ways to promote natural connection and healthy participation.

Even if physical events are not possible at times, the leader should encourage online meetings. Consistent events, virtual or not must be at the top of an employee engagement strategy.

6. Encouraging Trustworthy Relationships

Developing belongingness is not something that should only happen amongst the team members. People who have a reliable relationship professional are able to take advantage of critical feedback and opportunities to learn.

The common benefits of trustworthy relationships are greater amongst people who feel ignored. In an official workplace, you can facilitate trustworthy relationships by having a formal or even an informal mental program.

There can be initiatives that include coaching mentors and managers on how to get the best out of personal meetings while encouraging mentors and managers to survey results with the team members.

7. Creating an Open-Mindedness

Creating an open-mindedness is important for belongingness. Hearing honest stories from all job levels can affect the sense of belongingness in a positive direction. You can understand someone’s story, the wide aspects of life including hobbies and outside interests, concerns and hardships, etc.

Understanding some experiences can dispel the limitations that people impose on themselves. There are wide ways for encouraging the sharing of personal stories in a workplace while focusing on an organization’s values. Focusing on small experiences can also help in building empathy.

Becoming vulnerable in the act of sharing experiences can create a strong sense of belongingness. Retelling stories at the executive level can increase this too. It has been noted for a long time that successful leaders take stories that people in an organization have shared already and tell them again and again.

Encouraging the employees to share stories is an authentic and effective way to highlight the importance of belongingness, particularly because it is anchored in real experiences owned by employees. Storytelling is a suitable communication method for creating an environment that helps people to feel like they belong. For making the most out of this, stress must be laid on training leaders on effective storytelling.

8. Shared Vision

Sharing values, purposes, and goals can help in contributing to enhancing a person’s feeling of belongingness. Employees must feel a sense of belonging when they believe that the work they are doing is significant. Having shared goals for an organization is the first step to doing the same.

One must be able to communicate their vision in a way that motivates people. A shared vision is not merely a nice statement to be used for hanging on a wall. Rather, the focus must be on revisiting purpose and values for ensuring that they reflect on an organization and the direction in which it is going.?

Helping the employees gain a better understanding of why the goals, visions, and values are important is very important. An organization has a much better chance of becoming successful when it walks the talk. Allowing employees to create a common purpose design while understanding how they can contribute is extremely effective.

Conclusion

Creating a professional environment where people feel a sense of belongingness is a continuous process. It is not a short term project but a long term thing. It begins with the company culture and policies but also requires each person to do his/her part.

Employees must develop a habit of checking in on each other, listening when people come up with different views and pulling people into conversations when they feel ignored. An open-minded and kind attitude can help in creating a workplace where everyone feels accepted.