Workplace belonging refers to the emotional and psychological affinity individuals feel as valued contributors to a team or organisation. This involves a sense of acceptance, value, and recognition from peers and management. It implies that the workers view themselves as integral to accomplishing their company’s objectives, and a sense of inclusion and collaboration exists. According to Guidehouse.com (2024), this sense of belonging becomes even more important in hybrid settings where social interaction in the classical sense might be restricted. Remote work necessitates greater purposeful action toward creating belonging—shifting from casual interactions to structured programs that work toward creating connections.
Belonging taps into an inherent human need in the workplace, contributing significantly to employee motivation and overall productivity. Employees who have a strong feeling of belonging are likely to be more involved in their responsibilities, get along with colleagues, and remain committed to the organisation (Sapida, 2024). This emotional association enhances personal performance and enriches organisational culture through co-operation and innovation. By taking these into account, organisations can ensure that all employees, regardless of their work setup, feel deeply included and valued.
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Workplace Belonging in Remote and Hybrid Settings: Its Importance
Workplace belonging in remote and hybrid settings is essential to examine because these settings flip the traditional dynamics. A strong sense of belonging leads to greater employee engagement, productivity, and retention, all of which contribute to overall organisational prosperity. Conversely, sentiments of not belonging can result in isolation and reduced job satisfaction among employees. Remote workers risk losing opportunities for cooperation and mentoring, hindering their personal growth. The challenge lies in creating an inclusive culture over geographical distances.
As noted by Guidehouse.com (2024), leadership plays a pivotal role in developing a sense of belonging through intentional actions that recognise all employees as integral team players. Effective approaches include using communication platforms to facilitate seamless interactions, performing virtual social behaviours to reflect face-to-face ones, and ensuring equal access to opportunities for all organisational staff members.
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Theoretical Frameworks Informing Workplace Belonging
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Its Relevance to Belonging
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a helpful approach in conceptualising workplace belonging, especially in remote work and hybrid workplaces. The theory suggests that human beings are driven by an array of needs in the shape of a pyramid, from physiological basic needs to the pinnacle of self-actualisation. The requirement for love and belonging is at the core of the hierarchy and plays an essential role that influences staff productivity and participation.
If individuals feel that they belong—appreciated for who and what they are and contribute to the workplace—they will be apt to commit to their work more thoroughly. However, developing this sense of belonging becomes particularly difficult in online spaces where there is limited face-to-face interaction.
As Narayan points out in (Narayan, 2024, pages 1-5), remote work creates a sense of isolation that eliminates the development of genuine connections required to satisfy the need to belong.
Employers ought to take this reality into account and design programs to cultivate inclusivity and belongingness among working team members so employees are connected to the organisational sense of belonging. This not only meets Maslow’s lower needs but also promotes overall workplace culture, which is crucial to maintaining such high levels of productivity.
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2. Self-Determination Theory and Motivation in Remote Work Environments
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) provides motivational explanations of remote work by emphasising the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Satisfying these needs optimises intrinsic motivation and well-being. Autonomy is most dominant in remote settings, as employees have the freedom to manage their environment and schedule. A dilemma is maintaining geographically distant employees engaged and motivated. While remote working promotes autonomy, it will decrease human interaction and emotional attention required for team coherence.
It is up to leaders to balance this out through providing structured feedback and fostering community in virtual teams. Besides, intrinsic drivers like self-development and goal achievement are more long-term than extrinsic rewards in virtual environments. Organisations must prioritise those strategies that foster intrinsic motivation as part of solving external factors affecting employee engagement and performance in hybrid offices.
Psychological Safety as a Pillar of Belonging
1. Psychological Safety in the Workplace: Definition
Workplace psychological safety is a context in which employees are comfortable sharing their ideas, opinions, and fears without expecting negative consequences. Based on Kahn’s Engagement Theory, this concept highlights the need for psychological safety to achieve full engagement. Managers can improve psychological safety by building trust through supportive dialogue and attentive listening.
These environments prompt individuals to voice their genuine viewpoints and critically evaluate concepts without fear of mockery or retaliation. Investigations reveal that high levels of psychological safety within organisations correlate with high levels of employees’ morale as well as improved performance metrics (as documented in Harris, 2024, pages 41-45). A supportive environment strengthens relationships and encourages staff to experiment, take risks, and learn from failures—key drivers of productivity and innovation.
In addition, psychological safety plays a key role in promoting inclusivity in teams; if the members of teams feel that their efforts are valued, they tend to work together well and build better relationships (cited in (Ganesh, 2025). Firms that invest in psychological safety can expect increased employee engagement and overall productivity.
Read More: The Role of Psychological Safety in High-Performing Teams
2. Impact of Psychological Safety on Employee Engagement and Performance Metrics
Psychological safety is central to employee engagement and enhanced performance. When employees feel psychologically safe, they freely share ideas without fear, fostering a more inclusive workplace. It has been observed by Bennett (2024) that the sense of safety allows members to voice their opinions, promoting open culture and cooperation. The American Psychological Association’s Work in America survey for 2024 says that individuals with high psychological safety have a 95% perception of belonging, compared with 69% for individuals who are less safe, which is in line with higher levels of engagement.
Kahn’s Theory of Engagement draws attention to psychological conditions like safety being vital for optimal engagement (Harris, 2024, pages 21-25). Confident employees not only demonstrate better engagement but also enhanced job performance. In psychologically safe climates, innovation happens, as employees can try without fear of judgment or failure (Ganesh, 2024). This facilitates creativity, problem-solving, and efficiency within organisations, making such climates essential, especially in hybrid workplaces.
Read More: How to Promote Mental Health among Employees?
Organizational Commitment and its Relationship with Productivity
1. Understanding Organisational Commitment in Hybrid Work Models
In hybrid work arrangements, organisational commitment is essential in building a committed workforce. Affective organisational commitment (AOC) identifies the emotional attachment employees share with their organisation and subsequently affects the need to contribute to its success. Based on research, inclusive leader behaviours and care for the well-being of the team fuel AOC, yielding environments where employees feel valued, engendering higher engagement and productivity (Ly, 2024).
Employee engagement and its correlation with AOC are extensively documented; greater engagement typically corresponds to greater commitment. Open communication needs to be guaranteed within hybrid settings because remote workers easily feel disconnected, reducing commitment if left unchecked (Narayan, 2024, pages 6-9). Mechanisms need to be implemented by organisations to guarantee regular interactions and an inclusive culture to promote emotional bonds.
Additionally, recognising inequalities in recognition or advancement opportunities is vital, as these can undermine AOC among remote workers, necessitating equitable access to resources and fostering belonging.
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2. Correlation Between Commitment Levels and Daily Productivity Outcomes
Organisational commitment plays a vital role in shaping daily productivity outcomes, especially within hybrid work frameworks. As employees show high commitment levels, they are likely to sink deeper into their jobs, leading to increased productivity. This relationship is particularly seen in online and blended spaces where conventional controls can be tenuous. Research shows that those who experience an intense sense of belongingness and commitment to their company are energised to excel, and this is reflected in improved performance results (cited in Bennett, 2024).
Additionally, committed employees stimulate greater teamwork and communication among the team. Such a collaboration can help in improving performance levels as individuals and as groups by creating a supportive work environment that encourages workers to confront adversity head-on (highlighted in Wendy C. Birmingham, 2024). This link between output and commitment is supported further by studies showing that high-commitment workplaces exhibit improved levels of production and lower turnover (as discussed in Jiatong et al., 2022). Consequently, developing a culture that fosters organisational commitment can yield massive productivity gains for businesses working in hybrid settings.
Social Connectedness within Virtual Teams
1. Building Social Relationships in Distant Workplaces
Fostering social interactions in virtual workplaces is important to foster a sense of belonging among employees, who feel disconnected when they have less unplanned interaction (Gagné et al., 2022). Businesses need to foster virtual social activities like team-building exercises and informal get-togethers to replicate the traditional office setting’s familiarity and intensify interpersonal relationships (Yoder & Teillard, 2023).
Using effective communication tools can facilitate ease of interaction between members. Spending in technology that provides maximum engagement maximises workflow and connectivity across locations. Organisations should also invest in inclusivity by offering equity in access to opportunity and involvement in virtual meetings.
Implementing regular check-ins or buddy systems can also enhance social interconnectedness, allowing employees to share experiences and develop a sense of belonging (Gagné et al., 2022). Facilitating an open and supportive culture strengthens social connectedness and addresses the psychological need for relatedness, emphasised by self-determination theory.
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2. Social Connectedness Effects on Team Dynamics and Individual Performance Metrics
Social connectedness among virtual teams also matters significantly and plays an important role in influencing team performance and individual performance. With the rise of remote work, maintaining strong social connections has become increasingly challenging. The literature confirms that effective virtual working relies heavily on strong interpersonal relationships since employees without interpersonal relationships perceive themselves as isolated (Gagné et al., 2022). Team cohesion and trust are the outcome of interpersonal relations, which remote teams require (Gagné et al., 2022).
Studies show that individuals with deep social bonds have higher levels of engagement and productivity (Muldoon, 2025). Positive sense of belonging has a positive effect on job satisfaction, and undermining social connections can yield declining morale and turnover (Wendy C. Birmingham, 2024).
Addressing relational dynamics when working remotely is essential to organisations aiming to develop productivity. Virtual team-building activities or casual check-ins can be adopted to counter isolation among remote workers and foster a cooperative culture, resulting in improved performance (Urrila et al., 2025).
Employee Engagement as a Marker of Productivity Levels
1. Definitions and Dimensions of Employee Engagement in Hybrid Contexts
Managing employee engagement in hybrid workplaces comes with its own set of challenges brought about by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Remote work’s flexibility can boost engagement due to the ability to tailor one’s work-life balance (Narayan, 2024, pages 1-5). Still, for internal motivators to take hold, they have to be complemented by extrinsic factors such as recognition and social relationships, which are frequently missing in remote workplaces (Narayan, 2024, pages 1-5). The challenge is balancing teamwork with overcoming feelings of loneliness among virtual members (Narayan, 2024, pages 6-9).
Employee engagement involves psychological presence, awareness, and a feeling of purpose, necessary for creating a climate of appreciation. Kahn’s theory postulates that three conditions of psychological safety, meaningfulness, and availability must be met to achieve maximum engagement (Harris, 2024, pages 16-20). Leaders need to establish plans for communication to facilitate interactions between home-based and office-based workers, minimising feelings of isolation and encouraging deeper connections (Narayan, 2024, pages 6-9). Finding a balance between flexibility and structured interactions is essential to ensuring high engagement levels in different working environments.
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2. Empirical Studies Linking Engagement to Productivity Outcomes in Remote Work Settings
Worker engagement matters more to productivity, particularly in virtual workplaces. Engaged employees are significantly more productive than their disengaged peers. Profitability and productivity are up to three times higher in companies with high employee engagement compared to those with low engagement (Harris, 2024, pages 11-15). Gallup estimates that disengaged employees contribute to around $7.8 trillion in global lost productivity (Harris, 2024, pages 11-15).
Belonging is related to employee engagement directly; it is seen that only 20% of employees who lack a sense of belonging are engaged, whereas 91% of employees who do have greater levels of engagement (Herbert, 2022). Engaged employees not only work harder but also take the initiative, enhancing teamwork and overall performance. Their commitment leads to improved productivity and quality of deliverables (Ganesh, 2024). Thus, creating a sense of belonging is crucial for building employee engagement and delivering better productivity outcomes in remote environments.
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Leadership Drivers of Workplace Belonging and Productivity
1. The Role of Leadership in Developing an Inclusive Workplace
The role of leadership in developing an inclusive workplace is significant, especially in hybrid workplaces where employees can feel disconnected. To promote a sense of belonging, leaders must consciously counteract proximity bias, leading to a preference for those in proximity. Rather, they must model intentional inclusivity and ensure all team members have equal access to information and opportunities. For example, having procedures in place to allow remote workers to receive the same messages as on-site staff can reduce feelings (noted in Guidehouse.com, 2024).
Moreover, providing managers with resilience training enhances their ability to foster such supportive cultures where workers feel comfortable enough to voice their ideas (discussed in Bruce, 2024). Resilient leaders cultivate active participation and discussion among team members, thereby building relationships and community development. Regular check-ins—whether through virtual coffee breaks or scheduled office hours—can also enhance cohesion among remote workers by making it easy for them to have casual conversations (as outlined in Guidehouse.com, 2024). Prioritising these tactics will allow leaders to create a culture of belonging that translates to a sense of belonging in different workplace settings.
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2. Remote Employee Sense of Belonging Strategies by Leaders
Worthwhile employee accomplishments should also be acknowledged, and according to Cooleaf.com (2025), it is reported that 59% of professionals feel important to feel they belong through recognition. Personal contributions, like work anniversaries or project achievements, should be highlighted specifically to create a greater impact for leaders.
Leadership has a primary role in creating an inclusive atmosphere. Leaders should actively seek feedback from remote employees and increase visibility to reduce feelings of isolation. Having structured mechanisms of feedback helps measure the sense of belongingness among employees. Building open communication and using surveys helps leadership adjust strategies in line with the changing needs of the employees. Lastly, virtual team-building exercises enhance relationships and promote an inclusive environment where everyone’s contribution counts.
Figure 1: The ROI of belonging at work (source: reference (Herbert, 2022)[9])
References +
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