Social needs in the working world

Food supply, security, health. These and many other points are the central concepts of several levels of a socio-psychological model that Abraham Maslow first presented in 1943 and has continued to develop. Halfway up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the level of social needs, which people want to satisfy as soon as the previous levels of physical needs and safety needs have been satisfied. In the study Longing for Belonging – How connected are we in the flexible world of work? Karin Krobath, Sabine Zinke and Wolfgang Berger examine how these affect the necessity and design of interpersonal relationships, belonging, acceptance and social interaction in the workplace.

The results, based on 355 participants who work primarily in the areas of HR, strategy, corporate management, marketing and communication, allow the following conclusions to be drawn with one major commonality: loyalty to the company as the key to success.

1. The feeling of solidarity is nourished above all by the benefits of the work. Receiving positive feedback, feeling recognition, being told about successes and hearing others talk positively about the organization. This raises awareness of the meaning and benefits of one’s own work and strengthens the sense of connection.
2. When colleagues consciously come together, tell each other and create new things, exchange ideas, feel like a team and share success, this creates a bond through togetherness.
3. The feeling of connectedness is enhanced by learning about larger contexts, seeing the bigger picture and having purpose and goals explained. Work must make individual sense. People want to be effective and create benefits.
4. Analog is the most personal – still is. The location of your own team, closely followed by the joint headquarters and all the places where the team is together, are the most important places for a sense of belonging.

The flexibilization of the working world, which has steadily increased in recent years, also plays a major role here. The study shows that this flexibility has had a positive impact¹ on corporate culture and that half of those surveyed have not experienced any change in their sense of commitment as a result. Another consequence is that working from home has arrived and become the norm. Although virtual meetings are perceived as less personal than the analog meeting format, they score points for efficiency.

Would you like to find out more about the effects on loyalty to the company? Click here and read the study results published in September 2023.

1. Virtual working has affected the feeling of connectedness for 26%. For 19%, the feeling of connectedness has even improved. ↩︎