Belonging At Work: The 5 Critical Facts You Can’t Afford To Ignore

At first, I was simply confused. But now, even years later, the incident remains one of the most painful experiences of my professional life.

Without warning or explanation, I was suddenly expelled from the workgroup I valued so much.

But I had no idea why.

The first thing I noticed was that my boss — who headed the group and called the meetings — began giving me the cold shoulder. About a week later I realized that I had also been taken off the email list that invited select managers to the upcoming “inner circle” manager meetings.

It was very disorienting, so I attempted to address the matter directly. However, my questions were met with either avoidance or deflection. It was then that my confusion grew into bewilderment, frustration, and dread.

To my dismay, these feelings were difficult to shake. But eventually I realized there was nothing to do except put my head down, focus on my other duties, and move on.

It would be months before I was given an explanation. And years more before I understood why the whole thing impacted me as it did.

Today I understand why my pain and confusion were so deeply triggered. I now know that being cast out of the inner circle had greatly disrupted my sense of belonging.

I have also come to understand that I was not alone in the loneliness and isolation I felt. In fact, today across the globe, in organizations large and small, feelings of not belonging are experienced by a vast percentage of workers.

And these days — in our socially-distanced, work-from-home work world — the problem is only growing.

Not a Figment of Our Imagination

The notion of workplace “belonging” may seem like an abstract or isolated issue. Yet a growing body of reporting and research shows it to be anything but. Workplace belonging is a real issue with very real consequences.

In a recent whitepaper, The Center for Talent Innovation (TCI) describes workplace belonging like this:

Belonging at work means you feel seen for your unique contributions, connected to your coworkers, supported in your daily work and career development, and proud of your organization’s values.

According to recent reporting by Evan Carr and colleagues at the Harvard Business Review, 40% of those surveyed confirmed that they feel a deep sense of isolation while at work.

And this reporting was before the global pandemic and the advent of an increasingly remote workforce. Surely that percentage can only be higher today.

So whether you’re a frontline manager or senior leader, that information should be sounding an alarm. To that end, here are five critical facts that you cannot afford to ignore.

1. Humans Are Hardwired For Belonging

Our hunger for belonging is not some recent fad or socially-induced compulsion. Belonging is an innate human drive, hardwired into our DNA.

Abraham Maslow knew this. When Maslow was formulating his hierarchy of human needs he included the drive for belonging as an integral part of our humanness. As Maslow saw it, belonging was as much a part of us as the need for food, shelter, and safety.

More recently, workplace neuroscience expert David Rock expanded on this view. He observed that “a feeling of relatedness is a primary reward, and an absence of relatedness generates a primary threat.”

That last part is critical. It signals that, for us humans, being without belonging is a big deal. The absence of belonging triggers a chain reaction of internal alarms — much the same as when we’re deprived of food or shelter.

Carr and colleagues confirm this when they report that “exclusion is damaging because it actually hurts: the sensation is akin to physical pain.”

2. Belonging Can Be Measured

Hence, belonging is not merely a subjective reaction based on an individual’s values or fleeting whims.

It lives within us. That means that belonging can measured objectively and tracked over time.

This is exactly what CTI found when they quantified workplace belonging along these four dimensions:

· Seen: Feeling recognized, rewarded, and respected by one’s colleagues.

· Connected: Having positive, authentic social interactions with peers, managers, and senior leaders.

· Supported: Peers, managers, and senior leaders provide what you need to get your work done and live a full life.

· Proud: Feeling fully aligned with your organization’s purpose, vision, and values.

3. Belonging Has A Significant Impact On An Organization’s Bottom Line

But the measurement doesn’t stop there. In their research, CTI also measured how belonging impacts worker performance. The findings were dramatic.

CTI’s research showed that employees who scored higher on measures of belonging, also scored high on multiple performance indicators. These included measures of retention, engagement, loyalty and organizational pride.

Similarly, Carr and colleagues found that high levels of workplace belonging directly benefited an organization’s bottom line. The researchers reported that organizations that rate high on belonging experience “a whopping 56% increase in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover and a 75% reduction in sick days.”

They further estimated that for a company with 10,000 employees such outcomes would result in a savings of more than $52 million!

4. Belonging Is A Systemic Issue

It is now clear that that belonging, or its absence, impacts individual workers. However, the ultimate source of that belonging, or its absence, doesn’t rest with the individual. The ultimate source is with the system as a whole.

In other words, if an organization has problems with belonging, we can’t just point the finger at a couple clique-ish staff members. We have to look at the entire organization.

Typically, such problems are baked into a company’s culture as a result of long-term behavioral patterns. And such problems normally involve groups at all levels of the organization.

Hence, solving such issues means taking a close, hard look many long-standing beliefs and practices, including those involving management, recognition, and power-sharing.

This is why many organizations opt to have an outside observer come in and objectively investigate the problem and its correction.

5. Solutions Require Commitment At All Levels

So here’s the good news: If belonging is an issue at your company, change is possible. The problems can be reversed.

But making a difference requires full buy-in and participation from all levels of the organization.

This means that frontline workers, managers, and senior leaders ALL must be willing to be part of the solution. This includes being willing to take a look at past behaviors and recognizing how they must change in order to establish a new tone.

The benefits of such a commitment can be significant.

However, so can the costs of maintaining the status quo.

The Courage to Create Belonging

Six weeks or so after being “disinvited” from the inner circle, I learned how it all started. During a prior conversation with my boss, statements I made about future planning had led to a misunderstanding and my boss taking offence.

Several months after this I ended up leaving the company after being there more than six years. While other factors also played a role in my departure, not feeling like I belonged was by far the most salient.

At the time, leaving was a tremendously difficult decision. However, under those conditions staying was simply far too painful.

Had I known then what I know now about workplace belonging, I am sure I would have responded differently. At the very least, given more knowledge, I know I would have been more comfortable with my own reactions.

If belonging is an issue where you work, this knowledge may help you to make a difference — either for yourself or a colleague who feels alone and isolated.

Even it’s merely sharing a kind word, a caring gesture, or a compassionate moment of identification.