Even as technology increasingly mediates our interactions with the world and with each other, interpersonal relationships still form the foundation of our society. In companies, such relationships exist between employees and management, among workplace colleagues, between organizations and their clients and vendors, and in many other areas. The articles in this edition of our HR Insights describe what companies can do to strengthen the connections with their employees—and thereby strengthen themselves.

Part of building a strong relationship involves

meeting the needs of everyone in it.



As the workplace model shifts from one in which employees expect to move up the ladder in one field to one in which they prioritize exploring several fields in order to find meaningful work and opportunities, companies need to be ready to accommodate those preferences. In the feature article for this issue, “How to Support Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,” Ashley Goldsmith suggests strategies that organizations can implement in order to navigate this shift successfully.

Sometimes one of the best things companies can do to help foster connection is to encourage employees to interact directly with each other more—or maybe even insist on it. In the Watercooler column for this issue (“A Radical Proposition: Phone-Free Conference Rooms”), Mike McKerns writes that maybe companies should “just keep phones out of the conference room entirely” so they don’t interfere with “living in the moment and building real face-to-face relationships.”