How Internal Networking Creates Connection at Work

Everyone knows that networking plays a vital role in both personal and professional development. But while most people think of networking as an external effort to build industry connections and advance one’s career, internal networks among co-workers can provide major benefits to employees, teams, and the larger organization.   

HR can help facilitate and enable networking across teams and departments to help employees grow professionally, as well as boost collaboration, productivity, and retention.  

“Companies that have a strong culture of internal networking—employees communicating, helping, training, and building relationships with one another—have an enormous leg up on the competition,” said Tyler Orr, director of career services at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista.

“If your people know who inside the organization they need to talk with to accomplish their work in the most effective and efficient ways possible, they will perform better as a whole than if they are siloed and don’t understand how their efforts interact,” he said.

Internal networking can take many forms, including cross-functional interactions to fill collaboration gaps; team-building events; formal and informal mentorship programs; knowledge-sharing opportunities; and stretch assignments.

The Benefits of Internal Networking

Increased engagement, retention, and knowledge-sharing are a few of the positive outcomes that can result from strong internal networks.

“The single biggest benefit of internal networking for everyone is information,” said author and organizational psychologist David Burkus. “Employees and teams who build internal networks outside of the traditional hierarchy get access to information, potential resources, and even outside help faster than if they merely trusted the hierarchy and proper communication channels for answers. Likewise, organizations benefit because information and ideas flow through the organization faster than a typical ‘top-down’ rollout. This is especially important during times of change or when launching new initiatives because pivots and adjustments have to happen quickly, which means information has to flow even more quickly.”

In addition to employees being able to more easily collaborate with confidence, internal networking strengthens their connectedness, said Claire Stroh, SHRM-CP, an HR consultant, career coach, and senior talent acquisition business partner at manufacturing company ATI.

“The more time you spend with your team and get to know them, the more likely you will support each other,” she said. “So when someone has to be out for some reason, the more willing you are to jump in and want to help, instead of just feeling like it’s an obligation.”

Stroh added that employees in strong networks feel more cared about, which will likely improve teamwork, while those who are not as networked can “start to feel more checked out.”

Internal networks are also a big factor in retaining talent. “Internal networking builds brand stickiness, which improves retention—at a minimum cost,” Stroh said. “Employees are less likely to go down the street to a competitor if you are offering things like networking for personal and professional development. Sometimes the job is what it is, so the extras you can offer to keep people engaged are what really count.”

Orr agreed that when employees are actively engaged in talking with and learning from each other, they feel more like respected members of a team. That’s a “huge factor in many employees’ decisions to remain with their companies or go elsewhere,” he noted.

Networking Starts on Day One

There are several ways HR can enable employees to build a positive workplace culture that values networking for development and collaboration. It all begins with onboarding.

“Let your employees know from day one that they are encouraged, and perhaps even expected, to build relationships and make connections across the company,” Orr said.

If improving retention is a priority, Stroh said, then “creating connection starts during an employee’s first days.” She recommended that HR map out the new hire’s communications, including introducing them to team members and setting them up with the right meeting invites, Slack and Teams channels, and organizationwide meetings.

“I’ve seen HR forget to do those simple things that help the new hire meet the right people and also makes them feel included,” Stroh said.  

Orr added that depending on the size of an organization, onboarding could also include an introduction to employees or leaders from each different function, making it easier for new employees to reach out to them. “This could be in a short presentation format, or you could even set up true networking events to get professionals from different teams and functional areas into a room together to welcome new employees and get to know one another,” he said.

Buddy programs, where a new hire is paired with a current employee who can help them adjust to their new role and company culture, are another good method to introduce new hires to other teams and departments.

Establish Networking Opportunities

Time, space, and structure must be allocated for networking. That means encouraging employees to step aside from day-to-day work at times to interact with colleagues, whether it be for professional development, brainstorming ideas, or fun team-building activities. 

Stroh said that HR can work with managers to develop and schedule the most impactful networking events for their specific teams, which may include happy hours; lunches and dinners; or volunteer and community engagements.   

“You can set up annual or seasonal outings that the team looks forward to every year,” she said. “At a former employer, we went to the Buffalo Bisons AAA baseball game and booked a boat trip. You can do something specific to your geographic region or find out what your employees have an interest in.”

Burkus added that “creating a container” for employees to meet and interact with colleagues outside their teams and departments is the best thing that HR can do to cultivate networking.

“The key to making any networking effort work is to create opportunities for employees who don’t normally interact to connect with each other and discover commonalities,” he said. “The famous example, pre-pandemic, would be Google’s ‘free food’ policy, which was certainly a perk of the job, but more specifically was about creating regular places where lots of employees gathered and mixed.”

Employee resource groups (ERGs) also offer opportunities for employees to get to know like-minded people across the company. These groups frequently provide leadership development opportunities that help employees grow in their careers.

“ERGs can help people meet others who share specific backgrounds or interests and can be helpful for meeting people around the company who they may not encounter every day,” Stroh said. “The groups give them a safe space to meet and talk about shared interests that they are passionate about.”

Invest in Mentorship

Mentorship programs are another effective way to create meaningful connections within an organization. Mentoring is commonly thought of as a developmental relationship between a junior and senior person, but it can take many forms, including peer-to-peer and group mentoring. These networking approaches involve people who are at roughly the same career stage and want to learn from one another. 

“Peer mentoring is a nice blend of formal and informal networking,” Stroh said. At a past organization, she started a mentoring program that had some formal guidelines but included the flexibility for employees to build relationships on their own, which is what ended up happening.

“These types of opportunities can be critical in demonstrating that the company is invested in employees’ growth and development,” Orr said. “With so many employees today focused on development as a reason to remain with or leave an organization, this can be an important differentiating factor in the quality of your employment brand and save significant costs in replacing effective employees and training new ones.”

He added that employees should see actual evidence that the company is invested in supporting them to build connections that can help support the business and their careers.

“Once you have communicated the importance of internal networking, you have to demonstrate that you are serious about it,” Orr said. “One way to do this is to provide periodic training or workshops on how best to go about building relationships across the company.”