You hear it over and over again: Love what you do. Do you what you love. And while we all want work that
interests and engages us, that’s not the only thing that matters when it comes to finding meaning at work. You have to feel love, too.
In a longitudinal study on the impact of emotional culture in a long-term care setting, Sigal Barsade and Olivia O’Neill examined the effect of companionate (non-romantic) love on well-being and performance. They reported in the Harvard Business Review that, “Employees who felt they worked in a loving, caring culture reported higher levels of satisfaction and teamwork.” There turned out to be a positive correlation between companionate love and employee satisfaction and teamwork, and a negative relationship with both absenteeism and emotional exhaustion, the authors say.
That means we need more than just systems and bonuses and one-day wellness events to make work better: We need to actually demonstrate care and what’s called “companionate” love, every day (romantic love, of course, being tricky at work). The authors suggest that colleagues and managers who show more care, affection, and consideration for employees’ well-being will in fact have happier, more committed teams. I can’t think of anything better.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/janbruce/2014/02/12/a-case-for-love-in-the-office/
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