WITH THE RISE OF HYBRID WORKING, PEOPLE LEAN INTO THE NATURAL INSTINCT TO AVOID CONFLICT AND HIDE BEHIND DIGITAL TOOLS. IN THE ABSENCE OF MEETING IN PERSON, WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION HAS BECOME MORE TRANSACTIONAL AND LESS RELATIONSHIP DRIVEN. INDEED, A RECENT STUDY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CONFIRMS THAT WORKERS ARE FAR LESS EFFECTIVE AT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WHEN THEY PRIMARILY COMMUNICATE WITH COLLEAGUES VIRTUALLY, RATHER THAN IN PERSON.

Although technology is able to close the communication gap it is certainly not as effective at closing the relationship gap. These two gaps are succinctly different, therefore relationships between employees and employers and even between employees themselves have become less social and more transactional in nature. One of the main reasons for this change is lack of spontaneous conversation – when we transitioned to remote working, those working in traditional office environments lost the ability to physically walk over to a colleague to ask them a quick question. Within a remote working environment, a quick question to a colleague doesn’t necessarily warrant a scheduled Zoom call, so small exchanges of information like these would often be digitally pinged through a communication channel such as Slack, for example. This change in communication channel meant that any added value of an inperson, face-to-face interaction was lost. Colleagues no longer had the chance to check in informally with each other, or the opportunity to ask them what else was happening within their lives.

Lack of human contact is a key contributor to relationships becoming more transactional. This has resulted in a lack of context and overall visibility within a digital work environment. When communicating digitally, we forfeit being able to accurately read body language or other non-verbal cues which we have access to when we meet face to face. Granted, with video calling, you are able to see somebody’s face, but we are relying on our internet connections to provide us with a good quality image to enable the exchange of information. Without the context of non-verbal cues, it can often feel forced, asking questions about a colleague’s personal life which would more naturally emerge if we were in the office together. People can also be more reluctant to share if anything is going on via Zoom or Slack because warmth, sympathy and support don’t always translate as well digitally as they do in real life. Aside from the lack of non-verbal communication, there are many additional challenges which come with the use of digital communication channels. When communicating through video, employees feel obliged to come with an agenda, a purpose or a brief. Whereas, when using business communication platforms, communication tends to have much more immediacy – the tendency is to ping over a question to a colleague or team as soon as it pops into your head – this often means you’re inclined to go straight to the point and skip the few minutes of small talk you would have engaged with, if you were face-to-face.

What really sums up the problem is that search data for the term; “can you email a resignation letter”, increased by 178 percent over the past year, suggesting that employees are seeking ways to avoid having the more challenging workplace conversations, which would have traditionally taken place in person. In recruitment, there is a universal truth I have observed and that is, humans hate having difficult conversations. Tellingly, the ones that go against this natural human avoidance, often go on to be leaders. They’re unusual for being brave and tackling difficult issues and that ability to suffer through unhappiness and awkwardness in a tricky conversation, is a rarity that sets them apart.

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