Work Friends
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- December
- 12
Do you have close friends at work?
If you do, chances are you’re more productive. So claims Tom Rath, author of Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without. A friend of mine sent me this information and I had to share:
According to Rath’s Gallup Organization research, employees who have a best friend in the office are generally more productive, more likely to engage positively with customers, share new ideas, and stay longer in a job.
Some of Rath’s findings:
People with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their job. They get more work done in less time, have fewer accidents, more engaged customers and are more likely
to innovate and share new ideas.
People with at least 3 close work friends were 46% more likely to be extremely satisfied with their job—and 88% more likely to be satisfied with their lives.
What’s interesting is that many companies actually discourage workplace friendships. Specifically, nearly one-third of the 80,000 managers and leaders interviewed by Gallup agreed with the statement that “familiarity breeds contempt.”
But according to Rath, companies which discourage workplace friendship are actually harming themselves.
“When we asked people if they would rather have a best friend at work or a 10% pay raise, having a friend clearly won,” says Rath. “Friendships are among the most fundamental of human needs.”
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This entry was posted
on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 11:40 am by Jeanne Muchnick.
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Very interesting! I wonder if there’s any info. out there on how companies actually go about discouraging friendships.