Why You Should Have Friends at Work
We live in an era when a major chunk of our daily lives is spent at our workplaces. Our workplaces become our home away from home, and our co-workers are the people that we spend most of our waking hours with.
On average, an employee spends close to 50 hours a week at work. Given that such huge chunks of our lives are being invested in work, it is clearly important to figure out ways to stay happy at work.
While there are those that argue that personal relationships in the workplace can hamper efficiency and productivity, it is equally true that spending the majority of your day without friendly faces to look at and a mountain of work to deal with can be a recipe for depression and burnout. Such a situation can only lead to employees being miserable at work, and eventually dreading the idea of going to work.
To prevent this from happening, and to increase productivity and make going to work an enjoyable experience, friendships at the workplace should be developed and encouraged. Here’s a list of reasons why having friends at work is essential for all of us.
Most of Your Time Is Spent at Work
As mentioned above, most of our lives are spent at work! Our co-workers are the people we see even more than our families and friends. So it is only logical to want to develop strong bonds with people at your workplace. If you’re not close to anyone at work, and do not have co-workers you can call friends, this can make those long hours at work intolerable. Seeing a friendly face first thing in the morning, or when there is a lot of work pressure, helps a great deal in getting through the day, rather than being isolated in your cubicle.
It Makes Work Fun
We all hate workplaces that make us dread getting up in the morning. But there is a fix for a case like that. If you find yourself hating the idea of getting up for work, a simple remedy can be making friends at work. Having friends at work can make going to office an experience that you look forward to rather than one that you dread.
Having somebody at work whom you want to share a story from the weekend will make you want to go to work. Having friends at work can ease the daily work pressure, and make working on a project seem like a fun exercise, because you would be working on these projects with your friends.
Even if you have friends who work in different departments, or have different job titles, you can help each other out by talking about work problems over at lunch.
Friends Make You Feel More Invested in Work
Having friends at work not only makes the daily grind more bearable, it also makes it an enjoyable experience. It adds to your feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day, and thus more makes you more invested in your work.
Having friends at the workplace creates a positive environment and lets you form a connect with your workplace, thus helping you feel like you belong at work. This eventually helps employees improve work performance, and grow at work. This is also beneficial for the company in the long run.
Your job just isn’t a list of tasks if you have friends around you. If you care about the people you’re working with, the community you’re building within the company, it automatically translates into happy hours and better work performance.
Talking to Friends Helps Improve Communication Skills
Talking with your friends at work also helps you prepare for the moments when you need to interact with your business partners or collaborators. Interacting with friends in an office environment helps you open up and feel comfortable while interacting with people in a new situation.
Friendly conversations also help reduce stress levels, so when you’re on an important call cracking a deal, you’re bound to be more relaxed and more likely to succeed. Clearly, having people you can call friends at work can never be a bad thing!
Do you believe having friends at the workplace is helpful? Share your stories with us in the comments below.