PROMOTING
OFFICE
ROMANCES
FINANCIAL WELLNESS
Chieu Cao, Co-founder at Perkbox,
commented: “Today’s office is a theatre
in which many of our everyday human
dramas unfold – love, hate, friendships
and conflict are all inevitably played out
in the realms of our 9-5 job. Having the
emotional intelligence to navigate these
challenges productively is absolutely
vital in ensuring employees effectively
self-regulate their emotions in the
workplace and understand the impact it
might have on other colleagues.”
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
The phenomenon of ‘emotional
intelligence’ describes an ability to
recognise and understand emotions and
their impact on behaviour. It may dictate
how effectively and respectfully a
manager treats his or her employees,
and how an employee may
communicate with his or her colleagues
– particularly within stressful situations,
from managing deadline pressures to
dealing with workplace conflict and
personal trauma.
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The study found that 70% of employees
believed emotional intelligence to be
very important in their job role; a greater
proportion of women (75%) valued the
trait more than men (64%). The
perceived importance of emotional
intelligence appears to increase with age
too, with 45% of 18-24 years
understanding its value against 70% of
25-43 year olds, 72% of 35-44 year
olds, and 74% of 45-54 year olds.
However, a greater proportion of
employees (81%) said it was even more
important for bosses to possess and
exercise emotional intelligence. The
most cited reasons included the belief
that it “made bosses fairer and more
empathetic” (54%); “it made employees
feel that the company cared about their
wellbeing”; and that it “improved
teamwork and morale” (48%).
Yet despite this, over a quarter of UK
bosses (28%) viewed emotional
intelligence as unimportant, with 44%
maintaining that, “employees should be
professional and do their job regardless
of their emotions and private lives”.
“Today’s office
is a theatre
in which
many of our
everyday
human
dramas
unfold –
love, hate,
friendships
and conflict
are all
inevitably
played out in
the realms of
our 9-5 job”