What if you could:

• Increase employees' job performance by an average of 56%
• Reduce their sick-day call-ins by 75%
• Cut workforce turnover by 50%

“Higher performing workers who stick around longer” sounds like a no-brainer. In fact, the most recent definitive studies—many cited in the Harvard Business Review, among other publications—show there’s a single factor in the business world that achieves all of these benefits. Fortify this foundational aspect of your company culture, and you’ll see the payoff in your corporate treasury.

What is this mystery ingredient? The secret to supercharging your workforce?

Belonging.

A sense of belonging is vital to maintaining an engaged and productive workforce. But it’s not easy to create, and glib efforts to declare it have a record of backfiring.

Here’s a practical guide to building this sense of belonging and gaining its many proven benefits.

What belonging really means, and why it's hard to build

“Belonging” is often discussed in social contexts, but what does it mean in a business context? As described by the Academy to Innovate HR, “belonging means that employees feel seen, heard, respected, and valued …. Belonging in the workplace ensures that employees not only see themselves represented and treated equitably but also experience acceptance, a meaningful connection, and commitment to their team and organization.”

According to the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America workforce survey, 94% of respondents reported that it’s important to them that their workplace be somewhere they feel they belong. A prior study from Ipsos, a global market research company, also found 88% of respondents agreed that a sense of belonging leads to higher productivity at work.

Employees get it. Employers? Perhaps not so much.

Lots of companies have stated their intent to create a nice, family atmosphere with every member a part. Yet many of these efforts have failed to give employees a true sense of belonging. Consider:

• Globally, one in five employees report experiencing frequent loneliness according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report.
• Where belonging has been connected to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, it can be swept up in political backlash.
• What’s more, even employees themselves have started pushing back on some “belonging initiatives” and the “we’re a family” narrative in particular.

Why "work as a family" is a problem

For years, employers have tried to sell their employees on the idea that they are one big, happy family. But, as articles in Fast Company and elsewhere have pointed out, the dynamics of work relationships and real family relationships are simply not the same.

And when we-are-family statements are followed by events that betray a pure bottom-line focus, they fall flat. Recent organizational actions – including mass layoffs, stagnating wages, and eliminated pensions – combined with the rising cost of living have left employees interpreting attempts from organizations to make them feel like family as mere window dressing.

In a seminal 2014 article on this topic in the Harvard Business Review, “Your Company Is Not a Family,” LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and coauthors wrote, “Using the term family makes it easy for misunderstandings to arise.” In the event of layoffs, for example, “Regardless of what the law says about at-will employment, employees will feel hurt and betrayed—with real justification.”

Subsequent research has confirmed this assertion. Many workers have become wary of their employers. Just 53% of employees trust their organization, according to Gartner, and a 2024 Gallup poll paints an even grimmer picture: Just one in five employees strongly agreed with the statement “I trust the leadership of this organization.”

An influential “antiwork movement” began on Reddit in 2013 and gained steam during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the effort was rooted in the more radical premise of eliminating the concept of “work” altogether, it developed into a community of workers sharing personal stories of corporate hypocricy and advocating for work reform. The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, and other outlets have pointed to this subreddit as a tipping point, pushing employees to reevaluate their relationships with their employers. Today, the r/antiwork discussion forum has more than 2.7 million subscribers.

This atmosphere of contention between workers and employers makes belonging initiatives even more fraught.

How to build genuine belonging in the workplace

It’s a conundrum: belonging has real payoff, yet corporate efforts to build it often backfire.

So how do organizations create real belonging in a working world defined by mistrust and skepticism?

First, accept the current state of employee trust. Then, chart a new course focused on actions first, communication second. Here are eight ideas to create genuine belonging.

1. Focus on actions, not messages

Experts stress that companies should stop approaching belonging with words alone and start focusing on actions instead.

“If you’re going to use the language of belonging, you need to actually follow through on the commitment—the social contract,” says Lily Zheng, author of DEI Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the Work and Doing It Right. One example: if companies want to build belonging, they need to exhaust every possible option before laying off workers, Zheng says. Another: they should actively support employees who are experiencing discrimination.

Finding the right actions requires a mindset change. It’s time for companies to take the lead in recontextualizing the reciprocal nature of the employment relationship, says Andrew Drake, principal talent management consultant at Drakesmith Consulting. Forget “Welcome to the family” and try “‘We’re here to help you do great work and develop your skills for your future career, either here or elsewhere,’” Drake says. Creating programs that help individuals develop the skills that are valuable to them will benefit the company as well. Focusing on helping employees attain professional goals and skills that align with their career plans creates a more realistic and employee-centered development model, according to Drake. That fosters a greater sense of belonging.

2. Start at the top

Many believe that the most important lever to create a feeling of belonging is the relationship between the employee and their direct manager. Not so, experts say.

Increasing the feeling of belonging must start at the very top of the org chart, says Gil Crosby, author of Diversity Without Dogma. Crosby, a social scientist who helps companies improve morale, productivity, and retention by engaging people in every role and at every level, cites a recent project he did with an aluminum fabrication plant to help reduce the tension and conflict that was a barrier to productivity and was fueling high turnover.

“If leaders are able to create enough opportunity, enough freedom for each person to think for themselves, come up with solutions, influence their work with enough structure so they know what to do, what not to do, who’s making which decisions, and who’s responsible for what,” Crosby says, “you’re going to have most people genuinely belonging and fitting in.”

It’s also wise to pay attention to those who are in the minority in the workplace and make sure their voices are heard and that they feel respected, Crosby adds. “That could be a white male in a Jamaican business or a woman in most manufacturing environments,” he explains. “Anytime anyone is different they are more likely to be anxious about whether they belong.”

Drake agrees that the tone comes from the top. “If you have a great one-to-one relationship with your manager, but the majority of your work is cross functional, it’s not going to matter as much that you feel belonging with your manager if most coworkers on other teams do not align with those same values,” he says. “The executive team needs to create an environment where belonging is felt and lives across the organization.”

3. Write job descriptions showing how belonging is part of the business strategy

Setting expectations for the employment relationship—and selling your focus to a wary candidate pool—starts in the recruiting process. In job descriptions, highlight specific actions taken to increase belonging.

Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J’s) career page, for example, explains how “you—and your barrier-breaking ideas—belong here. YOU—your ambitious plans, unique abilities, quirky ideas, non-traditional career path, your heritage, and your life experiences—can spark world-changing health breakthroughs when you work with us.” But critically, the page doesn’t stop there. It describes how J&J bakes belonging into their hiring process:

• Everyone involved in hiring is guided by a responsibility to provide equal opportunity for employment, development, and advancement.
• Job descriptions are analyzed to minimize unconscious bias in language.
• Job candidates are interviewed by a diverse team of interviewers trained in fair hiring practices and mitigating unconscious bias.
• Behavioral and competency-based interview questions align with qualifications that data indicates will lead to success in the role.

The pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device company also links to its DEI Impact Review covering a host of actions and investments in belonging, including quarterly events focused on belonging, psychological safety, and the business case for inclusion; its six-month Diverse Leadership Immersion Program in which managers and directors have frank conversations to reinforce their sense of belonging and enhance their career development readiness; and hundreds of employee resource groups with a focus on shared identities, affinities, and experiences and what each has achieved.

4. Use social listening and anonymous feedback to understand (and address) employee frustrations

Internal surveys may not be the best source of intel on employee sentiment. One reasonis a growing lack of employee trust in how organizations use their data, noted Mark Whittle, vice president of research and advisory at Gartner, in a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) article.

But employees are likely to vent their frustrations on anonymous social media platforms like Reddit, Glassdoor, and Fishbowl. Social listening—identifying and assessing what is being said about the company or its leaders on social media—can help you understand your employees’ unfiltered feelings and determine how to increase belonging at work.

Companies can also put in place their own anonymous feedback channels and encourage employees to share difficult feedback or criticism more freely. Acting on such employee feedback is an effective step to foster belonging in the workplace.

5. Acknowledge achievements

Recognizing employees’ work contributions and pushing toward shared goals reinforces their personal connection to the company and its performance.

Mentorship programs also provide a form of recognition for experienced employees, and a structured framework for fostering professional growth among newer workers.

6. Create psychological safety

True belonging requires that employees feel comfortable being themselves and vulnerable. But to do that, they need to feel protected from any repercussions of doing so. Thus, creating psychological safety is a prerequisite for belonging.

Psychological safety encompasses two key factors, Zheng explains. “One is comfort in taking risk and potentially making a mistake and not being punished for it. And the other is comfort in giving critical feedback and potentially rocking the boat and not being punished for it.” Leaders need to know how to take feedback and open up the decision-making process to the entire team, Zheng says.

“The bottom line is that employees are dying to have things work, and they’re sick and tired of not being listened to,” says Crosby. “So that’s the key to it: give people the freedom to improve what’s going on at work. If you actually let your workers think, and you help them organize the solution, you’re going to have higher morale, higher productivity, and an increased sense of belonging.”

7. Offer training and ideas on how to increase belonging

Belonging won’t just happen because the company says it’s a priority. Training and guidance on how to foster and maintain it are needed.

SaaS software maker Atlassian offers a team playbook specifically on building such cultural connections. “Belonging is a key driver of motivation, retention, and innovation. So getting this right is key to having a high performing team,” the company explains.

One of the “plays” in the playbook describes how each team member can create a “personal user manual” describing their working style, communication preferences, and other details. Sharing this information makes it easier for teams to work together and forge relationships.

8. Measure to show value and increase results

It’s essential to connect the dots to the business value that an environment of belonging can deliver. That requires measuring and reporting on results.

“A lot of these efforts are they’re done in isolation and without any plan for accountability or impact,” says Zheng. When the business results are unclear, these efforts are the first to get cut. Companies need to ask themselves: What benefits will this work create for the culture, employee engagement, the brand, employee experience, company reputation, and customer perception—in addition the big three noted previously: productivity, health, and turnover.

There are many ways to capture meaningful metrics. “The easiest way is employee surveys,” says Zheng. “But you can also use lots of proxy metrics, like attendance at events.” While such measurement systems are not new, applying them to assess the benefits of belonging in the workplace may be.

Metrics can be tracked at the team level as well. Atlassian, for example, has its teams run frequent health checks to identify and address issues that could affect the team’s performance or productivity by evaluating metrics like happiness, morale, communication, trust, and psychological safety.

Closing the circle

Since transparent communication is fundamental to good relationships, there is value in sharing these metrics company-wide. Applying a “you said—we did” or similar framework to this communication will reinforce the corporate commitment to action, rather than just sloganeering or good intentions.

And as the workforce is making clear, that commitment to action is the real key to unlocking belonging’s benefits.

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