Do you have a best friend at work? These days, fewer and fewer people do. According to research cited by Adam Grant in the New York Times, about 50% of Americans in 1985 said they had a close friend at work. By 2004, that number had dropped to 30%. As Grant notes, “[n]ow, work is a more transactional place. We go to the office to be efficient, not to form bonds. We have plenty of productive conversations but fewer meaningful relationships.”
Of course, just because the workplace is trending away from strong friendships, that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. In fact, the statistics paint a very different picture — here are 5 that all leaders need to read today.
46% of professionals believe that work friends are important to their overall happiness.
According to a Relationships @ Work study conducted by LinkedIn, nearly half of workers believe that friends at work play a big part of their overall happiness. If you aren’t designing processes and spaces that accommodate and encourage friendships among your employees, you’re setting yourself up for an unhappy team.
More employees with best friends = 36% fewer safety incidents, 7% more engaged customers and 12% higher profit.
According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace, 2 in 10 U.S. employees say they have a best friend at work. Organizations that are able to bump that ratio up to 6 in 10, however, achieve fewer safety incidents, more engaged customers and higher profit. Why? “When employees possess a deep sense of affiliation with their team members, they are driven to take positive actions that benefit the business.”
Seeing a friend on most days is the psychological equivalent of earning $100,000 more each year.
As noted in the Atlantic, having a friend that you see on most days is like earning a major pay raise — a huge increase in happiness. Employers should take note for an obvious reason: While you can’t always shell out higher salaries to everybody on your team, you can encourage friendships. While having nothing to do with an actual pay increase, the resulting relationships could provide an equivalent psychological boost.
More than 26% of global workers are motivated by discussing success with colleagues.
This stat from Fast Company highlights one problem for employees that feel closed off from their peers: Workers want the opportunity to talk to others. They want to share their successes. Employers who don’t give them the chance to do so run the risk of a less motivated team.
For employees in the office at least 2.5 days per week, telecommuting doesn’t lower the quality of their workplace relationships.
When you’re making decisions about your company’s “work from home” policy, keep this in mind: “[A] comprehensive analysis of 46 studies of over 12,000 employees demonstrated that as long as people were in the office for at least two and a half days per week, ‘telecommuting had no generally detrimental effects on the quality of workplace relationships.’ ” Providing flexible work conditions isn’t going to prevent real friendships from forming.
A quick word of warning.
When you’re looking at the full picture, friendships at work are quantifiably a good thing. Good for employees, good for your business. However, as pointed out by the Harvard Business Review, “workplace friendship[s] [come] with costs, the biggest perhaps being distraction. Impromptu discussions and extended breaks for socializing may slowly steal time, making it more stressful to complete work when we are focused.” As a leader, you’ll want to help your employees create the right balance between work tasks and relationship building.
What about you? Have you come up with any creative ways to encourage friendships in your company? Share your story in the comments.
