The social side of work and why it matters

A report out this week from the Work Foundation looks at multigenerational workforces and what can make them work better. It points out the say-do gap between what employers say – that they value multigenerational workforces – and what they actually do to be more inclusive. One area they tackle is work-based social life. They say that the traditional pub-based gathering after work is dying out due to remote working and the rise of sober younger workers and are urging employers to replace after-work drinks with daytime or virtual workplace socials to create “inclusive and healthy workplace cultures” for staff who don’t drink alcohol or who work from home.

The report acknowledges that it is not just remote workers or younger ones that feel left out. People don’t drink for a variety of reasons, including religious or cultural ones. What’s more many people with caring responsibilities simply don’t have the time to spend hours in the pub after work in order to make those informal links that often lead to promotions or work opportunities. That has been an issue for many years. It’s not just a remote working thing.

Socialising at work can be vital, both for your career and for your well-being. For many who work long hours, work is the key place or at least one of the key places for making friends. Loneliness is a growing issue among younger people in particular. But there also have to be other ways that people can connect at work outside of formal meetings and work-based conversations.

That needs careful and active consideration. Some employers are doing that work, but not enough. Some either don’t think it’s necessary – it is! – while some just don’t know where to begin because they are so schooled in the old ways of doing things that they just prefer to cling to those. I recall speaking to an employer about the need for reviews or some form of regular check-ins with staff. They put their lack of any check-ins down to Covid, even though the best employers were checking in more during the pandemic and it is now four whole years since the first lockdown.

Covid is often being used as an excuse by managers who just don’t know how to manage in the new era, often because they haven’t had any support or training. They don’t even know what they are not doing and why it matters that they do it. If they could just take the time to talk to their colleagues they might find out quite a lot on how they could make the workplace better for many people at little to no cost. It just takes a willingness to see things from a different perspective.

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