Employee engagement and resignation: you need a virtual watercooler
People’s enterprise-network “signature” shows when they’re disengaged, less productive, and when they might eventually leave. That signature has worsened since the beginning of Covid-19. While hybrid work has many advantages, we need to intentionally help people strengthen their network — especially the so-called “weak links”. Good news: we can, but not with yesterday’s methods and tech.
People succeed when they’re embedded in their enterprise networks
In a previous article, I discussed how there are multiple reasons why people become disengaged (and eventually leave) but two of the most important ones relate to these two questions:
- Do they feel they’re part of a (good) group? Do their strong (e.g. manager) and weak (colleagues met at the watercooler) network ties give them a sense of emotional support, group “flow”, as well as functional help?
- Are they able to make an impact — a recognized and rewarded one — where they are? People’s impact depends on which depends on being associated with the right things to do, getting access to knowledge and learning, doing work frictionlessly, and getting access to the right people to influence actions.
The risk signature of hypothetical at-risk employees is in the left quadrant.
Think of our organizations as a brain (or, in MIT’s parlance, “superminds”). The brain is able to create and adapt because large quantities of neurons can connect, directly or indirectly, to distant parts of the neural network. Neurons access networks of neurons that are diverse from those in the vicinity. That gives us, literally, diversity of thinking.
The analogy carries to an enterprise. “Strong ties”, that is connections that are strong, typically with few people we know well, are important to shape our opinion and guide our actions, but they may suffer from so-called “small world effects” in that the ideas and beliefs transmitted through those networks may become too homogenous. “Weak ties” connect people with others who are farther from them and can bring fresh perspectives if they’re listened to attentively. In cases where those perspectives are uncontroversial, they can result in behavior change — that’s what happens with some fashion trends or electronic gadgets, for instance.
Interestingly, network structures matter for the success of both people, and companies. (For a review of what we know about it, see this article.) So what happened to them since early 2020?
The network structure of employees changed through Covid-19
In remote work, if left unattended, weak ties into far-away networks dwindle, as shown in this chart from Microsoft Research. And that’s extremely dangerous.
The strong (part of work routine) and weak (periodic, based on mutual affinity or chance) ties in our people networks make knowledge-work happen — both business-as-usual and innovation work — and shape culture deeply.
More 2021 data from Microsoft Research confirms the extent of the potential damage to network diversity, and to the connections between far-away groups. Both of them are essential to innovation and culture.
The office space is literally a technology to “design the human network” — the physical layout shapes the network structure, with its space between desks, offices, and buildings. The issue with remote work is that if left unattended, weak ties dwindle (no more serendipitous encounters), and the effectiveness of strong ties may suffer (less body language, no impromptu whiteboards, sticky notes, etc.). Virtual space is more of a vacuum, making casual connections a daunting free-for-all.
What can be done about it: build a “virtual watercooler”
Companies should invest in enabling people’s “network-based impact”. That means improving knowledge access (including learning and knowledge management), collaboration tools (e.g. virtual whiteboards, asynchronous conversations), and the ability to network effectively.
The latter — networking, especially of the serendipitous type with weak-tie colleagues — can still be done in the absence of physical facilities, their canteen, and their watercoolers.
Take the introduction of a virtual watercooler bot that matches colleagues based on the strength and diversity of their network connection. We did that at a global professional services firm (where I led innovation), with the help of new off-the-shelf technology and employee experience designers.
Unlike efforts involving “random” matchmaking, it harnesses very sophisticated algorithms that take into account the network structure between people and favors the rekindling of weak ties — as opposed to brute-forcing meetings between random pairs.
The app helps surface and process quickly the data in a cloud environment and leverages a bot that schedules meetings in free calendar slots. In other words, and thanks to the help of specialists in employee experience, we designed the experience around the human, not the machines.
The system was adopted by thousands of our colleagues — starting with senior leaders’ groups and scheduled thousands of meetings. It is on its way to becoming a mainstay of informal collaboration. The full case study is here and the solution, called “Spark Moments” is now available to other companies.
Virtual watercoolers are not a silver bullet, and they won’t work unless key leaders decide to endorse the need for rekindling weak ties and participate in the network directly. But creating intentional serendipitous opportunities to meet, should be a crucial part of an overall strategy for engagement and retention in the future of work.
This post complements the tech-driven organizational design materials at www.supermind.design and some previous blog posts on designing an AI-augmented collective intelligence. Read them on Medium or LinkedIn if you’re interested in using these techniques in your own organization, and get in touch if you want to discuss.