Love at work. If you’re in HR and reading that statement, likely you shuddered, even just a little.
Usually, “love at work” means some kind of relationship gone wrong, necessitating a new policy about relationships in the workplace, etc.
But new research out of Wharton (and reported in Knowledge@Wharton) shows, rather, we should be encouraging love at work, particularly a form of love called “companionate love.”
Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade defines “companionate love” as “when colleagues who are together, day in and day out, ask and care about each other’s work and even non-work issues. They are careful of each other’s feelings. They show compassion when things don’t go well. And they also show affection and caring.”
Barsade and co-author Olivia O’Neill, assistant professor of management at George Mason University, conducted a study on the effects of companionate love at work in what is often a tough work environment – long-term health care.
Goals of the study were to see how “companionate love” impacted employees as well as patients and the patients’ family members. The findings showed a culture of companionate love (quoting):
All that is well and good in a company in which one would hope the employees are more geared for compassion and caring. But what about other industries?
The researchers asked the same question, performing a second study involving 3,201 employees in seven different industries (including real estate, finance and public utilities). The findings remained very similar, showing: “A culture of companionate love positively correlated with job satisfaction, commitment to the company and accountability for performance.”
What does this mean for us in our workplaces? Ask yourself:
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
What other ways can we show companionate love our colleagues? Has anyone shown companionate love to you? If so, how did it affect you?
You can find more from Derek Irvine on his Recognize This! blog.