12 April 2022
Connectedness can be defined as a state of being joined or linked. It is important in all aspects to a humankind, whether it’s family, social or workplace. Building connectedness is the work culture for Averis. We have been focusing on Building Connectedness among Averians way before the paradigm shifted from physical workplace to virtual/remote workplace, and now, it has become even more important for everyone. However, connectedness in the workplace doesn’t just mean that everyone feels like a big family. What’s more critical for connectedness in the workplace is being able to relate to someone’s perspective or values.
Variation of Connectedness in Workplace
Connectedness can come in many forms, all of which are directly or indirectly associated with workplace satisfaction. Here are the types of connectedness that we can find at Averis.
#1 Concept Connection
Employees need to have concepts or perspectives that connect with the organisation before embarking on their roles. When the employees are committed to the same goals in a team, it is much easier to drive synergy, promote teamwork and improve productivity. The working environment has shifted to virtual or remote since 2020 and now some of us are in the hybrid work mode, a daily or weekly huddle will have a significant impact on keeping the concept and goals aligned and connected, with colleagues and leaders.
#2 Emotional Connection
The organisation’s core values are the foundation of the company’s culture, which flow through the company’s DNA, guiding the business and people towards a joint mission or goal. Employees must be emotionally connected to those values. It’s a positive dynamic: you are in a place you love to be, want to give more of yourself, and choose to add value that brings satisfaction to your job. The connectedness might help them to find another level of meaning in their roles that previously didn’t exist for them.
#3 Peers Connection
5 days a week, 20+ days a month, 240+ days a year, you are spending most of the time in life hanging around with your co-workers. Some people might not consider friends at work as “real friends.” However, workplace friendships do make job life better. Working with a buddy can make a job more pleasurable (Fisher, 2014), or increase your creativity and productivity. Moreover, connectedness among the employees does create reachable leadership. It will be much easier for employees to provide honest and open feedback that they feel might benefit the organisation.
Fostering connectedness in the workplace cultivates a culture of inclusivity, which is vital to allowing employees to bring their best selves to work each day. The connectedness also drives a sense of belonging and a culture of voluntarily helping fellow colleagues. Here are more benefits of building connectedness in the workplace:
- Employees with connectedness with their colleagues are more motivated to perform and collaborate. It drives productivity at its best.
- Organisations who report having connectedness are more likely to nurture healthy working relationships for their employees.
- Highly connected employees are more likely to exhibit better engagement, customer relations, and work quality. This is because connectedness helps to promote knowledge sharing among the employees.
- Connectedness in an organisation provides a sense of belonging to employees, which increases retention rate and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Building Connectedness is a culture that is ingrained in the Averis environment. Averians not only walk the talk of Building Connectedness but even step up to initiate activities that help fellow Averians take Building Connectedness further.
- Department huddles such as Virtual Lunch Date are essential for the new joiners to create connections with people in different departments during the work-from-home period.
- Averians celebrate all the major festivals in Malaysia, such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Deepavali and Christmas. Whether online or offline, we never miss out on the chance to wish our people their best.
- Hobbies help our people enhance their life experiences and allow them to destress themself. Averis-Ace Recreation Club will always bring up activities and workshops such as Macrame Earring Workshop, Latch Hooking Workshop, Henna Workshop and many more!
- Last but not least, fun and leisure contests sometimes provide some positive distraction during their work life. Of course, Averians also have the chance to get to know more about their colleagues’ talents in contests like Role Reverse Contest, Home Workspace Competition and Virtual Run.
Recently, Averis’ Employee Engagement conducted a webinar for Averians regarding building effective workplace communication. The ways of enhancing communication and avoiding misunderstanding from different interpretations were shared to Averians.
Averis believes that employees are their biggest asset, and the level of connectedness between them will definitely bring the company to a bright future. See how we are constantly Building Connectedness at Averis here.