FOR most of us, lockdown is now just a dim memory. There has, however, been one lasting effect: hybrid work patterns. The stresses of the daily commute are no more; in its place, we have more time with the children, at the gym or shopping. It is a boon for working parents. This marks a sea change from past work practices. But has it really been the win-win situation some CEOs have claimed?
In our new book, , we argue that organisations 鈥� hospitals, schools, businesses, government departments 鈥� are social environments, akin to villages. They are most productive when everyone gets along, and that depends on knowing each other personally. Relationships are based on trust and a sense of obligation. This involves a great deal of face-to-face time 鈥� according to , it takes as much as 200 hours to turn a stranger into a trusted friend. If these relationships don鈥檛 develop, silos and echo chambers form very quickly. Organisations become fragmented; important information doesn鈥檛 get passed on, rumours spread unchecked.
Advertisement
Two studies of email traffic at two large organisations ( by researchers at Microsoft of their workforce, the , which I was involved in, of a large US research university) showed that while emails to one鈥檚 research group increased during lockdown, those to people in other research groups declined. This was because the casual opportunities to meet 鈥渙utsiders鈥� at face-to-face events 鈥� in the cafeteria queue, at meetings 鈥� didn鈥檛 happen. More worrying, people spent much longer in online meetings than they had previously spent in face-to-face meetings. They were working much less efficiently.
The lack of daily contact causes people to lose the sense of being part of a community. In effect, they become casual employees, making them less committed and more likely to leave. During lockdown, large numbers of people joined organisations and left again without ever meeting their co-workers in the flesh.
The commitment problem isn鈥檛 new. During the 1990s, many UK businesses that rented expensive London offices tried to reduce the size of their offices by getting their staff to work from home, only coming in for essential meetings. The consultants they brought in to advise them at the time warned that unless they invested in regular social events, it could lead to disengagement and inefficient working practices. It seems we have forgotten this sage advice.
More recently, it has become clear that another big problem looms. Over the past 30 years, we have been witnessing a growing pandemic of loneliness, especially in the 20-somethings moving to their first job in a big city. Most don鈥檛 know anyone, and the only people they see regularly are those at work. After one multinational company tried hybrid working 鈥� well before lockdown 鈥� its younger staff put it very simply: we come into work to see our friends!
the past two decades have shown that the single best predictor of both your mental and physical health and well-being is the number and quality of close friendships you have. Five is the ideal (including close family, by the way). So no workplace, no friends, more loneliness, more depression, more minor illnesses 鈥� and more time off work, which puts more pressure on everyone else.
The message is clear: organisations need to work much harder to create space and time at work for friendships to develop. Free onsite nurseries are a big part of that, but the adults need social space too. We need to look forward to getting to work. Businesses will have a happier, healthier and more committed workforce. In due course, they will see the benefit in their profit margins.
Robin Dunbar is a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford
