Many people don't realize it, but sometimes being friendly can bring something intangible to the workplace. Professor Lynn Wu of Wharton University calls such people "influencers," and according to her research, they are much less likely to be fired during a layoff.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Wu studied 8,037 anonymous workers, going through their electronic communication over the course of two years to see what they talked about. People who discussed sports, meals and coffee tended to keep their jobs more often during a period of layoffs. The sociability of the person was an even greater indicator of keeping his or her job than the amount of money that worker brought to the company.
"There is something intangible that the employee is offering," Wu said.
Influencers can be a major benefit to a workplace
Many businesses are looking specifically for people with what they call "clout," which is really the same as influence, except it affects a broad range of people. People with large social networks tend to be useful at spreading messages and making people feel more comfortable about what is going on during stressful or confusing times at work. Companies are looking at Facebook and other social networks to see how people connect. Often times if someone is not in a role that is using his or her talent for bringing people together, then that person will be moved into a managerial position.
Salesforce has even gone so far as to create its own Facebook, called Chatter, which it uses to estimate a list of the top users. Those people are rewarded with an invitation to the global senior management meeting, which is usually open to Salesforce's top 600 leaders. Chatter is also used to make hiring and promotion decisions.
Some people are worried this will result in too much focus on networking versus just plain hard work.
"When it comes to promotions or layoffs, that's when it starts to get hairy," said Jerry Davis, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "Wait a minute, I thought I was doing my work really well, and because I didn't spend my time networking, I'm going to be fired?"
What to do with influencers leave
Influencers are often very friendly and when they leave the office to go to another workplace, it can be hard on the people who stay behind, according to the Denver Business Journal. Further complicating matters is the fact that even though people tend of think of their friends at work as family, they are not always allowed to grieve the loss of someone who says goodbye. It is important therefore to acknowledge the loss of that person. Many people wonder if they will even stay at a company if someone who was a major influencer leaves.
As such, it becomes important to find new influencers who can replace the people who left. An office without someone who forms social bonds with others would be very difficult for many. Probably, most come to an office with the expectation they will make friends with other workers and form bonds, whether or not they go outside the boundaries of the office.