It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that people develop friendships at work. After all, work is where most working-age adults spend about half of their workdays. There are plenty of benefits to office camaraderie. According to a new MyPerfectResume Friendships in the Workplace report, 73% of employees credit their workplace friendships with improving collaboration, productivity, and overall job satisfaction.
The Challenges of Workplace Friendships
The MyPerfectResume data also reveals that while friendships at work can offer significant benefits, they also bring challenges. Specifically 94% of workers report witnessing conflicts that arise from these relationships, and 70% frequently observe favoritism due to workplace friendships.
Here are some other key findings from the report:
- 65% of survey respondents maintain friendships with colleagues even after leaving their jobs.
- 46% of employees report improved teamwork due to close work friendships.
- 42% of workers say their workplace friendships have increased job satisfaction, while 38% report increased productivity.
Office friendships naturally are a bit easier to form in-office than in remote settings. When working in the same physical location, employees attend meetings in person together, make small talk in the hallway, pop into each other’s offices for a quick chat, and go out for lunch or happy hour together more frequently.
Cultivating Friendships in Remote Environments
But that doesn’t mean remote offices are immune to the benefits and challenges of office friendships. Many now-remote organizations were in-office workplaces pre-COVID, and employees who were around before the pandemic likely developed and are maintaining friendships formed in office. And while employees don’t have as much quality time together in a remote setting, telecommuting technology and periodic in-person get togethers mean that plenty of friendships can and do form remotely as well.
Office friendships are a natural result of employees spending so much time together, and that’s true even in a remote workplace, albeit to a lesser extent than in in-person settings. While there are plenty of benefits to employee friendships, recent data also reveals some potential challenges for managers and HR pros to be aware of.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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