ARE WORKPLACE FRIENDSHIPS GOOD OR BAD? *FIND OUT*
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+ 7 Tips to help you enjoy friendship and still be productive at
work
Friendship is a beautiful thing
and true friendship has a way of enriching lives. Many people spend
approximately 50 hours per week in the workplace and because so much time is
spent at work, they often develop friendship within the workplace. But what
role does friendship play in the workplace? What effect does it have on a
worker’s productivity and total wellbeing in the workplace?
Since the right group of friends
can greatly influence your career positively and a wrong set can get you to be
underproductive or even fired, is it better to keep your personal and
professional lives separate or to cultivate friendship on the job? Well, hold
your thought and check out a few good and bad sides…
Good…
1. Having a friend at work makes your
job more enjoyable and even enhances your productivity, creativity and general
attitude/ feeling to work and the organization.
2. Workplace friendships lead to more
cohesive team work. So, that means a high level of engagement and activeness in
your work roles.
3. Friends at work are more likely to
provide a range of support for each other as compared to those with just
professional relationship, thus reducing or preventing job burnout. Ever need a
friend at work to stand in for you because you are running late or not showing
up at all? Yes, the list is endless.
4. A friend on the job who is in a
privilege position can keep you informed about the inner workings of your company
and update you on current developments. Your mere co-worker is not obligated to
do such.
5. Workplace friendships help to retain employees in
their organizations. The more embedded
employees are, the less likely they will be to leave the organization. The perception that you fit and
belong, that you have a connection with a friend or friends at work and what you would have to sacrifice if you
were to leave your job can embed you in that company. Imagine that the bulk, if
not all of your friends are your co-workers and leaving the job means
friendship is gone. It’s never easy and so, workplace friendship may be an important factor in retaining
employees.
Bad…
1. Workplace friendships can lead to
competition, envy, gossips and distraction from work, and this of course can
impede your productivity.
2. Socializing too much on the job
can cause you to reveal personal or professional information to inappropriate
persons who may divulge same to management or a co-worker. I mean, you reveal issues you’re having with your spouse/ family or what
you really think about managers, coworkers and your job, and then you hope your
friends at work won't divulge that information, intentionally or
unintentionally, to anyone else. Well, you know how that usually ends.
3. Workplace friendships can lead to
cliques being formed, which in turn encourages favoritism, exclusivity and
negativity. Ever been left out of favour, incentive or reward at work just
because you don’t belong to that clique? Yes, I know that feeling but, never
mind.
4. Workplace friendships are great,
but they can burn out fast too. If you leave a department or change
position/job, the similar circumstances that originally brought you together
are now gone, and so is the friendship. Most likely than not.
5. Frequent disagreements and other
situations that can create animosity and conflict of interest among workplace
friends can affect work and team spirit.
6. If you try to befriend your boss or superior, your coworkers
might question your motives. If your boss befriends you, accusations of
favoritism may arise. Problems can also arise if your boss/friend has to
supervise or evaluate you.
7 Tips to help you enjoy friendship and still be productive at
work.
1. Remember why you are there. A job
provides financial security and you go to the office to get that job done, not
to take a break every second to gossip/chat with your pal or dash out of the
office.
2. Be discreet about your friend’s
confidence and think carefully about the type of information you choose to
divulge.
3. If you are befriending a co
-worker of the opposite sex, try and keep your personal and professional lives
separate. Don’t blab about your relationship during work hours. It’s important
that your other co-workers take you seriously as a professional.
4. If you are beginning to bond with
a co-worker, take your time, slowly allow the person into your life, with an
increasing amount of trust. Don’t go overboard too soon, revealing things about
your personal or professional life, because you never know if the relationship
will blossom into a long lasting friendship or burn out fast and half the
things you said come back to bite you.
5. Try not to be exclusive, only
talking or clicking with some co-workers while leaving the rest out. Politely include
the ones that are not your friends in conversations or mutual events to avoid
feelings of jealousy and animosity.
6. Cultivate friendships outside of
work, that way, if and when your workplace friendship goes awry you will be
able to balance out the time you spend with your work friends, and in case,
your work situation would be less stressful while you gradually put a distance
between the two of you.
7.
Same-level
friendships are the easiest to maintain. So before you decide to befriend your
superior, think of the cost. Again, it’s almost a natural instinct to complain
about work or your boss to a work friend. But know that if that friend is
friends with or connected to your boss, your venting may work against you.
Be Inspired! Be Friendly! Be Productive!
-Aitee
photos credit: getty images
