4 Effective Ways to Create a Sense of Belonging in the Workplace

By Dr. Terrell Strayhorn

Sense of belonging is a basic human need and people, as humans, yearn to feel a sense of belonging at home, school, and work. It’s much more than just “fitting in.” Fitting in or assimilation often requires denying aspects of one’s self or concealing core identities to satisfy the expectations, preferences, and values of some other group. As one person put it in a recent focus group, “that’s way too high a price to pay and the return on investment or ROI can be psychologically fatal.”

True sense of belonging reflects the presence of authentic, positive connections to one’s coworkers and supervisors grounded in the reality of one’s truth. It’s feeling seen and celebrated, just as you are, for your unique contributions to the team and organization. It’s feeling supported in daily work and being proud of the employing organization’s vision, mission, and values, as they align with your own.

When employees feel a sense of belonging at work, they show up for you, experience unparalleled flow, perform optimally, and thrive. Let’s take a closer look at what workplace belonging is, why it matters, and how to create conditions in today’s work cultures.

What’s workplace belonging?

Workplace belonging is defined as the emotional connection to a company that employees feel. It reflects the extent to which employees—that is, individuals who were hired or contracted for pay (whether wage or salary) to do a job—feel appreciated, included, respected, and supported by others in the work environment. For this reason, workplace belonging is strongly correlated with equitable pay, meaningful work, and diverse suppliers, such as women- and minority-owned businesses.

Workplace belonging is a core dimension of successful businesses, and it is linked to operational excellence. The logic is simple: sense of belonging at work engenders loyalty, trust, and a shared sense of purpose among workers who operate as a cohesive team. Cohesive teams get more done with greater efficiency, higher quality, and less defects. Belonging also helps build a company culture marked by mutual respect, collaboration, collegiality, and just plain ole fun.

Feeling a strong sense of belonging at work is fundamental to psychological well-being and overall organizational health, as many business leaders agree. One vice president of talent management put it this way during a recent phone interview: “Despite my title, we manage people…not talent. Creating a sense of belonging in the workplace for people starts with THE people [emphasis added]. It’s integral to fostering teamwork and empowering people to be their best selves. If we help build it for them, they will help build the brand for us.”

When relationships, purpose and value are strong, it leads to an emotionally invested workforce, improved corporate culture, better collaboration, and optimal productivity. Here’s why all that matters.

Why workplace belonging matters

As I said earlier, when individuals feel like they belong at work, they show up for you. In a literal sense, this refers to the fact that respondents to our
national workplace survey with higher scores on “workplace belonging” are three to four times less likely than others to “call out from work,” take a sick day, or “skip work without medical reason,” to highlight a few results.

Employees who have a strong sense of belonging at work are also more likely to stay with the company longer, thereby reducing staff turnover rates. Of course, “longevity has its place,” quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Change is a good thing and sometimes people leave for better opportunities elsewhere; equity-minded employers should support such moves.

It’s more than merely hanging on for the long haul, though. Staff who feel a strong sense of workplace belonging show up for the team—they’re engaged, productive, happy, and creative.

Our research, along with others, demonstrates they have more cognitive bandwidth available for work tasks, since they’re not wasting energy fighting negative stereotypes, guarding against offense, or navigating a hostile environment. When employees enjoy workplace belonging, they are more likely to imagine innovative solutions, jump-start fresh ideas, and find other ways to benefit the employing organization, as well as their own teams.

How to create conditions in work cultures

Here are four ways to create conditions for workplace belonging:

1. Make it a priority

Creating conditions for workplace belonging should be a top priority for any business. A workplace that is both inclusive, supportive, and welcoming for everyone is a vital part of any organization’s success, even though very few corporate rankings consider such metrics.

In my opinion, workplace belonging is a key performance indicator (KPI) and should be measured, tracked, and reported alongside other KPIs like conversions,
customer service, leads, ROI, wait time, revenue, and profits, to name a few. Some companies designate a senior-level leader (e.g., Chief Belonging Officer [CBO]) who’s responsible for overseeing this work and fostering company-wide partnerships.

By making workplace belonging a top priority, companies can build an inviting and favorable work culture for everyone.

2. Encourage collaboration

Foster an environment that promotes teamwork and collaboration amongst all members of the team. Encourage everyone to engage in meaningful dialogue, provide resources to supplement collaboration (e.g., Slack), and stress the importance of working together to achieve objectives.

Incentivize the latter by prioritizing collective efforts to hit annual targets and goals in company-wide rewards, awards, and bonuses. Create friendly competition among teams, where possible.

3. Involve everyone

Invite different team members to share their thoughts, experiences, and passions. Create opportunities for team members to interact and leverage the diverse perspectives of the group through book clubs, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other affinity units. Designate a senior team member as leader and/or facilitator, then switch it up the following week by designating a newcomer or junior as leader.

By including everyone in the conversation, you can create conditions for workplace belonging and foster inclusion at the same time.

4. Celebrate accomplishments

Invite team members to celebrate each other’s successes. Acknowledging hard work helps to boost morale and reinforce the sense of belonging. Create special events and traditions to recognize the accomplishments of different members of the team. Never underestimate the power of kind words—a personal email, a shoutout on the website, and public recognition at next week’s staff meeting can go a long way toward creating the conditions necessary for everyone to feel (and know)…they belong and matter!

FAQs on workplace belonging

Below we have summarized important questions and answers on workplace belonging:

Why is workplace belonging important?

When employees feel like they belong at work, they enjoy positive relationships, work/life balance, high levels of productivity, and many rewards (intrinsic and extrinsic). Employers benefit too as workplace belonging is highly correlated with job satisfaction, less burnout, low staff turnover, better performance metrics, and increased profitability.

What does belonging mean in the workplace?

Workplace belonging refers to feeling valued, connected, respected, safe/secure, included, and valued as a member of the team within a work environment where one can be their authentic self, contribute to the organization’s goals, and receive support, praise, and constructive feedback from colleagues and leaders. It means knowing that you and your work are important, vital to the company’s bottom line and your work needs.

What are 4 ways to give employees a sense of belonging?

1) Get to know them; learn their names, aspirations, and workplace needs; 2) Set clear, equitable pathways for advancement, promotion and hire; 3) Make diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) a priority and key performance indicator (KPI); appoint leader to drive these initiatives; 4) Incorporate regular check-ins, professional development opportunities, mentoring/coaching sessions to provide growth-minded feedback that connects staff with leaders, sets work goals, and guides their professional journey,

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