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On May 8th, during the meeting organized by WICS and the Diversity Committee, we delved into the topic of belonging in the workplace. To facilitate the discussion, Jenny Veldman, Assistant Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��, delivered an insightful presentation on recent research concerning the importance of a sense of belonging at work and the factors influencing it.
 
The session began by answering the question, “What does belonging at work mean to you?” This revealed that it involves “feeling safe,” “feeling authentic,” “being recognized and acknowledged,” and “mutual support,” as indicated by the word cloud.
 
One fact from Jenny's talk that particularly resonated with the audience was the fact that many (especially young) academics perceive themselves as more collaborative than competitive, yet believe that competitiveness is required for success (Van Veelen & Derks, 2022, British Journal of Social Psychology). This experience of “lack of fit” predicts negative work outcomes, such as lower work engagement, professional identification, career efficacy, and higher work exhaustion and exit intentions.
 
A potential false perception that a culture of academia focused on competition is broadly shared was discussed – that many academics who want to be more collaborative and not competitive think they are alone in this, while this is not the case. Such false perceptions also appear in other areas, such as attitudes towards alcohol use and climate change, and is often referred to in the literature as “pluralistic ignorance.”
 
Following Jenny’s talk, the audience engaged in a discussion on interventions and measures that could be implemented to enhance our sense of belonging in academia.