According to recent research by health insurer Cigna more than three in five Americans are lonely and unsurprisingly, this impacts their working lives. One in ten lonely workers say their work is lower quality than it should be and lonely workers think about quitting their jobs twice as often as those who aren’t.
In a multi-year study carried out by The Gallup Organization, friendships at work were deemed essential enough to form one of Gallup’s twelve key dimensions of a healthy workplace. Employees who reported having a best friend at work were 27% more likely to report that their opinions seem to count at work and 21% more likely to report that they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day.
Gallup explains, “Human beings are social animals, and work is a social institution… In the best workplaces, employers recognize that people want to forge quality relationships with their co-workers, and that company allegiance can be built from such relationships.”
Annemarie Mann of Gallup urges leaders to take the issue of friendship in the workplace seriously. She suggests promoting open conversation and encouraging people to get to know one another. In her review of the research she says, “Leaders must also consider how they can help employees across the enterprise get to know each other.”
So, how do we help employees to become friends? And what has art got to do with it?
I recently led the installation of a collection of abstract paintings in a high-rise building in Central London. A pair of employees stopped in the lobby on their way out to lunch to contemplate the artwork and I seized the opportunity to ask, “What do you think of the art?”
The response unfolded in a way that I’ve seen many times as a workplace art consultant.
Their shoulders’ rolled forward and they looked at one another hesitantly before staring at the floor and picking at imaginary lose threads on their suits.
“I don’t know anything about art,” said the first.
“Me neither,” said the other.
They laughed nervously and attempted to leave.
I smiled reassuringly. “You don’t need to know anything about art to have an opinion. How does the piece make you feel?”
It was clear that my words were anything but reassuring. Is discussing art really something we should be doing at work?
Art in the workplace can be a facilitator for connection and its power lies in its ambiguity. Art is subjective, therefore there can be no right or wrong answer in our response to it. The thought of not being able to get a question wrong ought to comfort us but as I experienced in the lobby, this ambiguity can often make people uncomfortable.
When sharing our thoughts about a piece of art, we may experience a little fear. Fear that revealing our personal feelings and opinions will somehow make us vulnerable.
The irony is, that this moment of vulnerability simultaneously offers an opportunity for connection. In letting your guard down, even if just a fraction, you reveal something of yourself, inviting the other person to do the same.
After a little coaxing, the pair in the lobby softened and we contemplated the colourful painting together.
“I find this piece exciting,” one of them said, pulling his hands out of his pockets. “The colours remind me of Holi Festival.”
“You’ve been to Holi Festival?” the other responded. “I’ve always wanted to go.”
“I lived in Punjab for several years,” the first replied.
And so ensued a conversation between us in which we all revealed something of our upbringings and backgrounds. In short, we connected.
Art in the workplace offers these opportunities for exchange on a more human level. It invites us to reveal little pieces of ourselves to one another and that’s how friendships are built.
With loneliness a real concern and many people beginning to return to the office, art should form part of any workplace design strategy. The benefits of having friends at work are wide reaching and art can help us to share our unique perspectives with one another to build genuine human connections that can blossom into workplace friendships.