Remember when you used to run into a colleague in the hallways and have a casual chat about an upcoming project? Or recapped your recent vacation? Those seemingly inconsequential, informal conversations are more important than you think. They’re a key aspect of social capital, a term used to describe the personal relationships within a company that help build trust and mutual respect among employees. Many positive results come from this type of human interaction - from better decision making to increased efficiency (Forbes).

We recently came across an article in Harvard Business Review entitled “What a Year of WFH Has Done to Our Relationships at Work.” In the piece, authors Nancy Baym, Jonathan Larson, and Ronnie Martin detail new research that shows that employees and teams are becoming increasingly siloed. According to Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index, people are no longer connecting with others outside of their immediate teams. This has severely impacted social capital and increased feelings of loneliness and isolation throughout the workplace. New employees are having trouble adjusting and meeting people at work, and old employees and having trouble maintaining strong relationships.

Here are some of the most eye-opening takeaways from Microsoft’s annual research:

• Strong workplace relationships directly impact two factors associated with the bottom line: productivity & innovation.
• New employees and employees aged 18 to 25 have been harder hit by feelings of social isolation.

“The organizations of the future, the ones people will be most excited to work for, will be those that foster supportive social ties for those in the room, and also those who are not.”