Discover the Surprising Secret to Boosting Your Business: Healthy Workplace Relationships!

Relations they have been a constant part of professional activity since the beginning of civilization. Egyptian workers had to collaborate effectively while dragging stones to the Giza pyramids. Serfs had to work together to grow and distribute enough food during the Middle Ages. Arctic explorers had to support each other as they searched for the location of Earth’s two poles.

In the 21st century, the need for relationships in the workplace endures, even as things like remote workspaces and asynchronous work schedules are changing the way workers build and maintain relationships. Despite these challenges, healthy employer-employee relationships must remain a top priority for modern professionals, not just because they make work life easier. They can also have a direct impact on a company’s bottom line.

What is an employment relationship?

When the term “workplace relationship” is used, it can conjure up a variety of different images. Some people can imagine intimate connections with coworkers. Others might think of a great boss they’ve had in the past. They could also think of group events that they participated in.

These are all examples of labor relations at stake. Forbes contributor and editor Chauncey Crail and Rob Watts, respectively, define the concept of relationships between co-workers as follows: “Employee relations refers to building relationships and positive interactions between employers and employees, and on a broader level helps foster a sense of community within an organization.”

In other words, the general term “workplace relationships” applies to any relationship or positive interaction within the workplace. This is both a vertical and a horizontal concept.

Vertical relationships are important as authority figures within a company interact and build connections with those higher or lower on the organizational chart. Horizontal relationships are also important, as they unite coworkers within teams, between departments, and even between branches of a company.

You can even choose to expand the idea to key customers, clients, and suppliers. There’s no question that the quality of those work relationships can have a big impact on your happiness and success.

The nuance of “good” labor relations

One more thing worth noting here is understanding what a “healthy” employment relationship looks like. The term does not mean that everyone is your best friend. Rather, like the natural dynamics of a family, professional relationships come in all their forms.

Some coworkers connect so strongly that they become friends, even outside of the office. Others remain acquaintances with their professional colleagues, and still others annoy their co-workers. This spectrum of interhuman connections is normal.

What matters is that you maximize each relationship to its maximum and most operable potential. Coaching guru Michael Bungay Stanier (popularly known as MBS) addresses this concept in his book “How to work with (almost) anyone.”

Bungay Stanier refers to this optimal ratio target as “BPR” (Best Possible Ratio). “When you engage with a BPR,” he explains, “you commit to intentionally designing and managing the way you work with people, rather than just accepting what happens. With a BPR, you create relationships that are safe, vital, and repairable.” That’s the foundation for happier and more successful working partnerships.”

Workplace relationships come in all shapes and sizes. To keep them healthy, you don’t need to make everyone your best friend. You simply need to focus on the BPR offered by each connection.

How do healthy relationships in the workplace affect earnings?

The value of healthy relationships in the workplace is easy to see. When coworkers have strong relationships, they are happier. They have greater loyalty to their company and feel empowered to thrive within it.

The question that has not yet been answered is how this impacts your company’s bottom line. Let’s consider how some of the main benefits of employment relationships have a positive impact, specifically in the context of income.

1. Healthy employment relationships lead to better retention

When workplaces function with healthy relationships, they cultivate a greater sense of loyalty within an organization. As people connect in positive ways, they will naturally feel more invested and less willing to walk away.

This leads to a simple (but significant) cost factor in the form of higher retention and lower churn. SHRM estimates that the combined soft and hard costs of replacing an employee may be as much as three or four times the salary of the position. That is a significant cost for a business.

Technically speaking, this is a form of cost savings, not higher revenue, but it’s important to consider nonetheless. When healthy relationships improve retention, employees stay with the company longer, reducing hiring costs in the process.

2. Healthy work relationships encourage greater commitment

When employees invest in one another, they feel like they are part of a larger organizational culture. This makes up for the deep sense of loneliness that many modern workers struggle with.

Remote workers often feel disproportionately isolated and a substantial majority find building and maintaining working relationships more difficult than in an in-person setting. When a company encourages and facilitates relationship building within its workforce, it combats this tendency toward loneliness and encourages engagement and happiness.

happy employees they are more engaged, which affects revenue. They tend to be more productive, collaborate better, and work with clients more effectively.

3. Healthy labor relations enhance employee development

Effective vertical employment relationships are also important for continued development. When employers can intimately understand their employees, it increases their ability to promote their professional growth.

For one thing, when problems arise, workers can confidently communicate a problem or need to an employer, opening the door to collaborate on a solution. On the other hand, when things are going well, employees and employers can work together to find ways for proactive career growth.

By quickly addressing issues and improving existing skill sets, employees become more efficient. In either case, the result is a positive net result for the company.

4. Healthy labor relations provide greater knowledge

It is no secret that diversity improves the results of a company. In fact, various companies have statistically happy employees.

However, to fully unleash the power of DEI initiatives, you need to look beyond your hiring practices. You must also develop healthy working relationships.

When a diverse workplace prioritizes good vertical and horizontal connections among its coworkers, it exposes those people to a variety of perspectives and worldviews. Employees from different backgrounds and experiences feel empowered to speak up and share their personal views.

How to improve labor relations.

Understanding the impact that healthy workplace relationships can have on earnings is one thing. Improving your workforce relations to reap those financial benefits is another. If you’re not sure how to promote better relationships in the workplace, here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Start off on the right foot

In his book “How to Work with (Almost) Anyone” (mentioned above), along with the definition of BPR, Bungay Stanier provides a model for improving healthy working relationships. This centers around an activity MBS refers to as “the key conversation.”

This is a conversation that needs to take place early in a professional relationship. Its goal is to dig into deep and important work-related questions right away, like learning how a person has grown from past mistakes or discovering their personal practices and preferences.

The Keystone Conversation accomplishes some critical things early in a working relationship. She shares responsibility for the relationship, deepens individual understanding, and gives permission to talk about the serious stuff when things are good and bad. If you want to create a structure within which to improve relationships in the workplace, this is a good place to start.

2. Set clear expectations

Expectations are everything, especially when you’re talking about connecting with coworkers you have to collaborate with on a regular basis. If you set expectations, they create the framework within which a professional relationship can continue to be effective.

This is where it’s important to remember that relationships in the workplace are not all rosy and sunshine. Sometimes they are practical, and sometimes they just make the best of an undesirable situation.

Whatever type of relationship you are working with, make sure you are set expectations. Be clear about what kind of help and support a person should expect from you. Provide feedback and check in often to keep everyone on the same page. Make sure everyone, including yourself, understands what to expect and what others expect of them in order for the relationship to run smoothly.

3. Develop yourself

Yes, we already pointed out that healthy relationships in the workplace are an outside activity that focuses on others. However, to engage and build healthy relationships, you need to start with a good introspective look within.

Which are the relationship building areas what do you need to focus on? Do you need to hear better? Do you lack emotional intelligence? Do you need better people skills?

Identify the key areas where your own ability to build relationships is lacking. Then work to improve those elements as you seek to contribute to a healthy and profitable workplace.

Improve income through better workplace relationships

Relationships in the workplace are important. On an individual level, they make sure you have positive experiences while doing your job.

On a company-wide level, better workplace relationships are also an important factor in maintaining a healthy revenue stream. They ensure that a company’s primary asset—its workforce—stays positive, focused, and efficient while working collectively together.

The charge Healthy relationships in the workplace improve your bottom line. That is how. first appeared in Earring.