Many of us have worked hard to make our new workspaces look like our old ones: setting lunch breaks, grabbing our favorite desk chair from the office, or celebrating milestones virtually. And while these efforts help, there’s no real substitute for human connection, which is more important now than ever.

According to Jonathan Kanter, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, social distancing and isolation can affect immune function and increase anxiety. Happy employees are productive ones, too, with productivity among positive employees increasing 12 to 20 percent. For the nearly half of Seattle-area adults that have switched to teleworking because of the pandemic, finding fulfilling connections is easier said than done.

For Kanter, “any connection is better than no connection,” and he encourages people to reach out to their networks and try to forget connections despite surface differences. 

While some may think they have nothing in common with their coworker or neighbor – even industries at opposite ends of the spectrum have more similarities than differences. Arry Yu, chair of WTIA’s Cascadia Blockchain Council, recently sat down with Sarah Bird, CEO, Moz; Ubong Samuel Akpan, software engineer, JP Morgan Chase and Vivien Renee, former software developer apprentice, Microsoft to dive deeper on the topic of humanity and how to best use appreciation and compassion to forge stronger connections.

Whether it’s telling a veteran “thank you for your service,” taking the extra time to help someone through a challenge, or simply slowing down to get to know a coworker more personally, there’s opportunity to strengthen connections everywhere – even if they have to be virtual.

Listen to the full session below for more tips and insights: