4 Ways to help build connections in the hybrid world of work

The importance of building a strong network of connections in your work life can’t be stressed enough. When pursuing a career, you often find that it’s not necessarily what you know but who you know. Having contacts in the right places can make all the difference. From unexpected job offers to role winning references, the benefits are numerous. 

But the world of work has changed significantly thanks to the pandemic. For those of us who have had years to build up our network, the impact on our connections hasn’t been as noticeable. But with hybrid and remote work becoming more common, the usual ways we connect with colleagues and clients has massively changed. 

In a remote or hybrid role, you’re much less likely to engage with people outside of your department. You aren’t bumping into colleagues in the elevator, staff room or by the water cooler. For those early in their career, or those just entering the workforce, it has become much harder to nurture and grow their network.  

This means we need to rethink how we go about building our connections. Here we’ve put together some of our tips on how to connect in the hybrid world 

Take the initiative 

If you’re new to an organisation, take the initiative and introduce yourself to people outside of your immediate team. A good way to do this is to drop an email or message to managers in other departments. Introduce yourself and explain as a new employee you’d love to gain some insight into how the wider business works.  

Doing this not only helps introduce you to people outside of your immediate team, but it can also help you demonstrate skills in other areas. 

As part of employee induction at Personnel Checks, new team members are scheduled for a 15–20-minute chat with the heads of each department. We’ve found that it helps people settle into their roles much quicker. This is something we’d recommend to any manager onboarding new staff for remote or hybrid roles. 

Take advantage of time in the office. 

 This one isn’t applicable to everyone, particularly if you’re doing remote work internationally. But most companies have rules stating that remote/hybrid workers need to go in the office occasionally. This could be once a week, month, or even just for certain events like important meetings. 

If you are going into the office, try and make the most of it. 

If possible, try and get ahead of your workload and spend as much time in the office connecting with your colleagues. Whether you’re grabbing lunch together, making team brews or even just having a chat. Spending time together in person can make all the difference.  

Join or create a community 

Connecting with people over shared interests is one of the fundamental ways that people build relationships. When you join a new business, try, and find out if there are any existing communities or clubs that you could take part in.  

For example, if football’s your thing, a lot of businesses have a fantasy football league. If they don’t, you could set one up. With 3.5 billion football fans worldwide, it’s a safe bet people will want to be involved. 

Communities don’t even need to be so structured. A team member at Personnel Checks recently set up a Teams channel dedicated to everyone’s pets. The response from people across the business has been incredible. People love to share pictures of their furry friends. And according to the University of Leeds, we can all benefit from spending time looking at cute animals.  

Don’t underestimate LinkedIn

Networking is exactly what LinkedIn was built for. There’s a reason it’s marketed as ‘the world's largest professional network’. With nearly 800 million members, and growing, it’s a great way to build your list of professional contacts. 

If you’re just starting to grow your network on LinkedIn, it can be difficult. When you set up an account make sure you include as much information as possible about where you’ve worked and studied in the past. LinkedIn will make recommendations for your network based on this.  
 
Follow content creators in your industry. People engaging with the content you’re interested in could be valuable contacts. It’s also a good way to stay in the loop of tips and trends in certain industries.  

LinkedIn groups are communities on the platform dedicated to certain job types, industries, and interests. From huge 2-million-member groups like Digital Marketing to niche industry groups, there is literally a LinkedIn group for everyone. 

For more information about anything in this article, or, how our screening solutions can help you, get in touch! You can give us a call on 01254 355688 or drop us an email at letstalk@personnelchecks.co.uk