Friendships at work

In my last post, I described how the Gallup Organization measures employee engagement.  Gallup's question 10 ("I have a best friend at work") is often troubling to people when they first encounter it.  Many believe that friendships have no place at work, and can hurt business results.  Gallup's research suggests just the opposite.

In Vital Friends: The People You Can't Afford to Live Without (Gallup Press, 2006), Tom Rath describes two years of research into friendships and their impact on business results.

Gallup found that people who had a best friend at work were significantly more likely to:

• engage their customers.
• be productive.
• have fun at work.
• work safely.
• be  innovative.
• feel informed and to feel that their opinions are valued.
• have the opportunity to use their strengths every day.

(Paraphrased from page 53 of the book.)

An analysis of Gallup's huge employee database showed that people with best friends at work were seven times more likely to be engaged at work than those without a best friend.  Employees who saw their boss as a friend were more than twice as likely to be satisfied with their jobs as others.

So, the evidence shows a strong correlation between close workplace friendships and a multitude of business measures.  But you can't order people to be friends, can you?

Of course not.  There are a few things you can do, however:

• If your organization has policies that discourage workplace friendships and socializing, revisit those policies.  They may be costing you more than you think.
• Share the research - and the book - with your team.  Talk often about the importance of friendship to workplace success.
• Provide areas to congregate (water coolers, break areas, dining areas) which double the chance that employees will find friends.
• Provide opportunities for conversations to start:  social hours, dinners together, outings, volunteering together in the community.
• Pay attention to how you bring new employees on board.  Take care to bring them into the family quickly and completely.  Don't leave them sitting out in the shadows beyond the heat, light and companionship of the campfire.

To learn more about Gallup's findings, and for access to a rich website, buy the book.  For details behind the research, download this technical report [PDF, 462KB]