In the Workplace

One concept that I found interesting was that of workplace relationships. In my own experience, the smaller the company, the harder it is to separate personal relationships from professional ones. Smaller workplaces usually mean that you will interact with a specific group of individuals in a team more often. The increase in day to day interaction between members will usually mean that members will find themselves learning more intimate details about other members of their team or department than they would in a workplace with twice as many people. This level of intimacy can and will lead to more interactions outside of the office, especially between people with similar interests and hobbies.

In my last company my national team and our support teams numbered at less than one hundred and fifty people. Whenever we got together at the main office we would spend time after work hanging out and catching up with each other. The time we spent wasn’t just personal time, as many of us worked remotely, the time at the main office was important to us professionally as we used that time during work and off hours to keep the faces and voices together. Company functions encouraged us to bring our families so in many cases spouses got to know each other too.

 

In my current company, my department has over 500 people nationally and support teams that number in the thousands. In a month, other than the 15 employees that are in my region, I might interact with the same person twice, where in my previous company, I would interact with the same people on a daily basis. This is very important because in the larger company hierarchy and status differences become much more pronounced and important. In the smaller company I could take things directly to other departments. Filters were less important because to make things work we needed to be able to move quickly. Now, rather than keep my hierarchy informed, I take things to my hierarchy because information needs to be filtered and relayed in ways that allow other departments to categorize and prioritize issues.