Managing Work Cliques
Positive workplace connections are essential for enjoying your day and working well. While forming intimate friendships at work can be beneficial, they can also lead to exclusivity and harm office morale. Addressing workplace cliques in a professional and effective manner is crucial to prevent any harmful effects.
Work cliques are groups of coworkers that spend most of their time together and may even socialize outside of work. These close-knit friendships often exclude others, leading to the formation of cliques in the workplace.
Employee cliques can stem from common interests, sentiments, or other similarities among coworkers. They can form based on various factors such as similar personality types, length of tenure at the firm, being in the same department, being in similar life phases, sharing similar hobbies, having religious or political affinity, or sharing a common experience. These similarities can bring people together and lead to the formation of cliques in the workplace.
There are several indications of workplace cliques, including certain workers restricting others from joining, office gossip about others, employees discouraging dissent, hearing or spreading rumors, increased competitiveness, and instances of bullying. These signs can lead to a toxic work environment and negatively impact morale and productivity.
Cliquey workplaces can harm morale and productivity as they can make workers feel isolated or alienated, leading to a loss of motivation and decreased productivity. Additionally, spending time with the same group of individuals can limit perspectives, ideas, and collaboration, hindering innovation and corporate efficiency. It can also lead to favoritism, with only clique members receiving favorable feedback, recognition, and advancements, causing others to lose interest in their jobs.
To prevent workplace cliques, there are several strategies that can be implemented:
1. Build teams by allowing workers to work and socialize with diverse groups of colleagues and plan events that bring different staff groups together.
2. Behave in a way that promotes inclusivity by avoiding cliques and spending time with diverse coworkers.
3. Meet with clique members to discuss how their behavior may be affecting others and encourage them to open up to interacting with a broader range of colleagues.
4. Develop relationships with clique members individually and suggest interacting with other coworkers who share similar interests.
5. Maintain non-work interactions by staying in touch with friends outside of work to feel valued and included.
6. Examine and promote business values such as collaboration and togetherness throughout the office.
7. Foster socialization by scheduling regular employee socials and inviting excluded individuals to participate.
8. Implement a mentoring program to pair new hires with experienced employees from different departments to encourage cross-group interactions.
9. Enforce corporate policies that address workplace cliques that exclude certain groups or spread rumors.
By addressing workplace cliques professionally and effectively, organizations can promote a more inclusive and productive work environment for all employees. Through building diverse teams, promoting inclusive behavior, fostering socialization, and enforcing corporate policies, workplaces can prevent the harmful effects of cliques and create a positive and collaborative atmosphere for everyone.