At social gatherings, if you don’t invite people to have coffee, you will feel proud – a hidden problem in the workplace

Being excluded from work groups (i.e., ostracism) has been a rather quiet issue in Finland.

Here’s what an experienced career and business coach who knows the ropes says Jana Englishholds a PhD in Behavioral Sciences. Currently, Anglé is the HR Director of the IT company Anders Innovations.

– Exclusion, or being left out, is finally starting to be mentioned in discussions about workplace well-being, even though it is still rarely discussed in public. Angerer says that there is relatively little research on the subject in Finland, although it is more extensive internationally.

According to him, the Helsinki Mission has done an excellent job in publishing. Work to belong – barometrin. He is also a professor of educational psychology. Nina Jontila Already done Pioneering research Regarding this issue.

Serious issues

Even short-term exclusion can be damaging, but if it becomes chronic, it can lead to mental and physical health problems, Angle said.

– Deliberate and prolonged exclusion can have particularly serious consequences for individuals’ mental and physical health and well-being, Angle said.

For example, according to the Job Belonging Barometer, excluding employees from their work community can lead to anxiety and depression.

The topic is coming

Exclusion in the workplace means treating the employee as an outsider, making him invisible, neglected and insignificant.

Jaana Anglé became familiar with the topic of exclusion ten years ago while writing her thesis on long-term marriages between Finns and immigrants.

– I was interested in it as a topic, but then it stayed. When I started to get into coaching and business, it became interesting to be quietly excluded from the work community, or more and more trainees began to tell their personal experiences, Angerer said.

Not invited to the coffee party

Angli described the experiences he began to hear from employees who felt left out of their work communities.

– Invitations were limited to coffee gatherings, while meetings were full of eyebrow-raising. No more invitations to lunch or reply messages. Angerer described that his work was not praised or recognized, that he was ignored, or that it was as if he didn’t notice.

– The man wondered what was going on until he realized he was being excluded.

No one likes it

Anglé also refers to the various messaging features used today.

– One person posts a message on a channel and makes a suggestion, but no one clicks, likes, or comments.

– This slowly leads him to stop sending messages, because he realizes that what he says does not make any sense. He feels completely outside. Jaana Anglé suggests that this can lead to the fact that when he withdraws, even new people cannot understand him.

According to research by Mission Helsinki, one in five Finns feel lonely in their working lives and one in ten feel excluded from their work community.

– It is inexplicable that this form of social and psychological violence is rarely discussed in workplace well-being discussions in Finland. Angere says it is important to raise the topic in workplace well-being discussions and in the workplace in order to gain awareness of the phenomenon and to get people talking about it.

It may be unintentional

Sometimes, excluding employees from the work community can be unintentional, Angle said.

This can happen unintentionally especially when working remotely, but it can also happen in a physical office.

– But many times this is intentional. The reasons may be a competitive atmosphere, haste or conflict.

Even leaders can be ostracized, Angerer argues.

– This has nothing to do with status. But many times management does influence it, especially when management is apathetic or authoritarian.

People will get exhausted

Angle describes the consequences that exclusion can have on individuals and work communities.

– People are burnt out, they take sick leave and look for new jobs.

Angell believes that when a person feels closed off, they go through many different stages. It affects self-esteem, work morale and motivation.

– First, he might change his behavior in meetings, like becoming very friendly. Then he might try to improve his value in the eyes of others. When he realizes that this is not helping, he might start to show anger and withdraw. There will be a sense of fight or flight.

Angle said this affects the entire working community.

– People will notice if someone is excluded, even if only one person is excluded.

Angle believes it is important that those who are excluded first tell their colleagues or superiors, even if this is difficult. This way, the situation can be clarified and possibly resolved through conversation. Occupational health and safety officers can also help in this matter.

Impact on productivity

Working in the corporate world, Angerer knew that exclusion would affect a company’s productivity.

– Many companies are facing financial difficulties, and this phenomenon comes to the fore when you are competing for your position and importance. A threatening person may be excluded. There may also be feelings of jealousy. This has also become a topic of discussion for us HR people.

– If issues related to occupational well-being are not considered, the situation will repeat itself. Senior management will not necessarily notice the situation, and then we will wonder about the deterioration of results.