The Significance of Socializing in the Workplace

  • Yuvraj
  • | Updated on October 27, 2021

After more than a year and a half of working at home due to Covid-19, you must be remembering down the line the significance of socializing in the workplace. Even recent research shows that people now actually want to get back to the office. Even though there are many things to love about working from home, people are reporting a desire to return to the office. And the main reason for this desire is socializing. In this post, we are going to discuss the significance of socializing in the workplace.

After so many months of being trapped in their homes and working from a laptop, people seriously miss the actual physical companionship that the workplace offers.

The socializing that takes place at work has always been taken for granted both by the management and the employees as well. But those little chats at the water cooler and the shared jokes while having coffee or lunch actually contribute to engagement, performance and personal happiness. 

The Significance of Socializing in the Workplace

We have been reminded by this pandemic that work is fundamentally a social activity. Whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, you need a certain level of connection with other human beings to be healthy and happy.

Socializing at the workplace, even if it is minimal in some cases, links you with others and provides peace and contentment. 

Here are some ways of significance of socializing in the workplace contributes to the improvement of productivity and performance:

Social Identity

Our contribution to our community and society is mainly through our work and, therefore, an essential part of our identity. Working together with others for a common goal is a crucial aspect of how we perceive ourselves.

This trend of people feeling a sense of themselves as a result of the work they are doing originated from people migrating to cities during the industrial age.

The ties people had with their families and neighbours were cut, and new ties were formed with those people who they worked alongside with. They started to identify themselves with co-workers, and this can be observed even now.

Social Norms

Another thing that happens when we work together is that we develop an understanding of the organization’s values, behaviours, and norms- its culture.

The culture at the workplace is always evolving, and employees continuously contribute to it through their behaviours and choices. Culture is strengthened when people connect and productivity increases.

As people begin to understand how things work through interactions with their co-workers, they start to feel more at home in the workplace. This sense of familiarity is very important as otherwise, people would feel alienated and lonely.

Social Learning

Learning is essential for growth and typically occurs among people. Even when it is indirectly, such as through a book or video, there is still an author who wrote that book or a presenter in the video providing you with the information you need.

Learning is a social activity and cannot be done in complete isolation, and better learning happens through participating and engaging with others. When you work with your teammates on a project, you learn from each other’s strengths and get work done far more effectively than it would have been possible if the same people were working separately. 

Conclusion

Even in informal interactions at the office, one can learn some essential things or get an urgent update. Through discussions with a colleague, you could get a better understanding of some clients’ needs. 

Basically, being forced to work alone for so long has led us to realize the importance of socializing while working together at the office. Now, we are actually yearning for the return to the office so that we can hang out with our friends and colleagues.

What is the most important aspect of socializing at work for you? Let us know by writing in the comment section below.

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Yuvraj I am adept at meticulously researching any topic given and work to produce original yet engaging prose. I also have plenty of experience in creating optimised, search-engine friendly content.   Core: Market Research, Tech Writing, Blogging, WordPress

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