Culture | Microsoft's VP of HR reveals how to build a sense of community at work

Creating a sense of community at work is crucial.

With the average British worker putting in 34 hours and 26 minutes of hard graft per week, ensuring that employees are supported in the workplace will boost their productivity and encourage staff retention. And with an up rise of technology reducing the need for human interaction in some instances, the need to create a sense of community in a digital era is all the more crucial.

In a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article co-authored by Microsoft’s Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President of HR, Kathleen Hogan, and Jacqueline Carter and Rasmus Hougaard from Potential Project who consult the firm, discussed how the behemoth builds a sense of community among such a vast workforce that is spread around the world.

The trio explained that technology has sparked an increase in remote working and virtual conferences, which may have streamlined internal processes and made them quicker, though it has resulted in a deterioration of human connection, which is a familiar situation for most businesses.