The human advantage: the importance of keeping up connections

“Human connection is crucial.”

It’s something Prashant Ohri, President, Americas (ex. US) - Global Distribution Group, Henry Schein, often says, and four simple words that carry increasingly heavy weight in today’s workplace.

Organizations are continuing to embrace new technologies and new ways of working, all with more data than ever. But behind every engagement score, wellness metric, and productivity measure is a person, and the relationships that shape how they experience work.

Research reveals how much those relationships matter. BetterUp found that employees with a strong sense of belonging were associated with 56-per-cent higher job performance, 50-per-cent lower turnover risk, and 75-per-cent fewer sick days taken compared with employees who reported a weak sense of belonging.

But belonging isn’t just a data point. It’s an experience.

Employees need real conversations and relationships. They need to know that their employer sees them, hears them, and cares about them.

Connection doesn't happen by accident

Employees value flexibility, and organizations have demonstrated that great work can happen in many different places. For us at Henry Schein, some teams are remote, some are in the field, others are hybrid, office-based, or working in distribution and manufacturing facilities. Because we’re in 34 countries and territories, we even have Team Schein Members working across different cities, countries, and time zones.

The challenge for HR isn’t to choose between flexibility and connection. It’s to intentionally create both.

Gallup’s research offers a window into how powerful workplace friendships can be: employees who report having a best friend at work are more likely to be engaged.

Of course, HR can’t manufacture friendships. But we can help create the conditions that help genuine relationships develop.

Sometimes that’s a program or an event. More often, it’s making time for a conversation, checking in with someone, bringing people together around a shared experience, or noticing when someone seems disconnected.

I would encourage you to watch the documentary Join or Die, which explores the groundbreaking work of Harvard social scientist Robert Putnam and the vital role that community and social connection play in our lives. As The Guardian put it so simply in its review, “The secret to living longer: join a club.” How much more convincing do we need? Human connection makes life more enjoyable and is fundamental to our health, our well-being, and our ability to thrive in our communities.  

Opportunities for employees to connect

At the company level, and at Henry Schein Canada, we support a National Wellness Program that creates the time, space, and opportunities for our Team Schein Members to connect in meaningful and different ways.

Building a culture of wellness requires flexibility within a thoughtful framework – one that consistently educates, encourages participation, and creates opportunities for reflection on our health and well-being. Over time, these shared experiences allow wellness and human connection to become part of the fabric of our culture.

Across Canada, our 65 Wellness Champions bring this commitment to life at the local level. Representing each of our locations, they encourage participation, foster connection, and champion wellness initiatives with a shared purpose: to positively impact the health, well-being, and lives of our Team Schein Members.

A simple but meaningful example of this took place at our Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., location, where a group of Team Schein Members participated in a Learn to Row experience. What was remarkable was how quickly people connected, despite not knowing one another well or working closely together.

The experience created something that extended well beyond the time spent in the gym. A shared story led to friendly conversations in the office, a simple “hello” in the hallway, or an afternoon coffee together. Nearly six months later, they are still talking about the experience and asking, “Are we doing this again?”

That is the power of human connection. Sometimes, all it takes is a shared experience to break down barriers, create a sense of belonging, and open the door to relationships that might never have formed.

Connection doesn’t necessarily require a large budget. But it does require people to make space for one another. By maintaining these human connection programs, we maintain the very essence of what makes us human.

The difference between presence and connection

As organizations refine remote, hybrid, and onsite expectations, there can be a temptation to equate physical proximity with connection.

Gartner research suggests that the reality is more nuanced. They found that the same percentage of onsite and hybrid employees were rated as highly productive. Among more than 100 work attributes it studied, a supportive team culture had the greatest positive impact on productivity for both onsite and hybrid employees, increasing productivity by up to 11 per cent.

The takeaway is that we should be intentional about our time together.

If employees commute to an office only to spend the day doing individual work and sitting on virtual calls, we may have missed an opportunity. When people do come together, there should be space for the things human interaction does particularly well: collaboration, mentoring, problem-solving, conversation, and relationship-building.

Whether people are remote, hybrid, working in different countries, or sitting across the hall from one another, HR leaders should be asking the same foundational question: How are we making sure people remain connected?

Beyond the data for a meaningful employee experience

HR has access to more data than ever. We measure engagement, wellness participation, retention, and countless other aspects of the employee experience.

Those metrics matter. But there is a risk when we allow the numbers to become the experience.

A wellness participation rate does not necessarily tell us whether someone feels supported. An engagement score does not tell us about the conversation that made an employee decide to stay. And a dashboard cannot fully capture the trust an employee develops when a leader consistently shows up.

Some of the most important questions HR leaders can ask don’t produce a neat metric:

• Do people trust one another?
• Do they feel comfortable asking for help?
• Do they believe someone will listen?
• Do leaders make time for real conversations?
• Do employees feel connected to the people around them and to what the organization stands for?

There is an intangible quality to connection. Sometimes we have to trust that investing time in people is the right thing to do, even when the immediate return can’t be reduced to a number.

What HR leaders can do

At the end of the day, we still need people.

For HR leaders, strengthening connections doesn’t have to start with a new program or major investment. It can start simply.  

• Promote the resources that you already invest in. Your team may not know what you already provide.
• Make room for real conversations. Look beyond the engagement score or wellness metric and ask employees what they’re experiencing. Give managers the time and permission to do the same.
• Make time together meaningful. Whether employees are in the office every day, hybrid, fully remote, or spread across countries, think intentionally about the moments that bring them together. Focus on creating opportunities for conversation, collaboration, and shared experiences, not simply attendance.
• Ask leaders to show up. If connection matters to the organization, employees need to see leaders demonstrating it. That means being present, listening, participating, and making time for people even when other priorities compete for their attention.
• Look beyond the data. Metrics can tell us where to look, but they can’t tell us everything. Pay attention to the intangibles: trust, relationships, whether people feel supported, and whether employees believe someone is listening.

Ultimately, culture isn’t a place, it’s a shared experience. And human connection brings it to life.

Faye Gagne is Manager, Employee Relations & Wellness at Henry Schein Canada, where she is helping shape a workplace culture in which employee well-being, psychological safety, and organizational performance go hand in hand.