Remote Work, Real Friendships: Why Workplace Bonds Matter More Than Ever
With more than 55 million knowledge workers in the United States currently working virtually, it might be easy to forget to talk about how critical friendships are in the workplace. They are vital to our own well-being and, not surprisingly, to business outcomes as well.
And data from Hubspot suggest that 33% of sales professionals work completely remotely, with another 26% categorized as hybrid.
In my mind, the number of people working remotely seems to be all tangled up with the topic of workplace friendships. Especially some of the millions of people working remotely never even travel, even occasionally, for team meetings, conferences, workshops, or other in-person life experiences.
Do you have a best friend at work?
Looking back over the last 25 years of my career, I have been beyond fortunate to meet thousands of people all over the globe. And while I definitely exhibit more introverted tendencies than most would assume, the sheer number of people I've met - through trainings, workshops, conferences, dinners, coaching sessions, team building, and the like - has bestowed countless friendships that I deeply treasure.
Friends I trust. Friends I can count on. Friends who lift me up and celebrate life with me.
From all different geographies, every chapter of life.
Each friendship has been more genuine and special than I could have ever imagined.
When I reflect on my entire career, I can say with absolute certainty that the years I have personally felt I have had strong friendships - sometimes truly best friends - everything seemed to be better. Sometimes just a little better, sometimes incredibly so. With the day to day on the human life side; as well as on the quality of ideas and output. Real and amazing A+ work product seems to emerge for me personally in periods where friendships at work are thriving.
Gallup studies repeatedly show that having best friends at work is key to employee engagement and job success.
This article is one of my favorites - from 2022 and updated in 2024.
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A lot of key takeaways from the topics of remote work and friendships in the workplace.
What could you and your team do better or differently to foster deeper connections and opportunity for true friendships at work?
In our 52 week blog series, #friendship felt beyond relevant today.
Yesterday, I caught up on the phone with a woman I've been close friends with since 2008. She and I got to know each other by sitting next to each other on a flight for a business conference! I know I've blogged about that before.
And in September in general, when everyone settles in to more "normal" back-to-school routines, there just seems to be a bit more space in the days for real friendship and connection among all of our meetings, commitments, and projects.
Most of us will spend over 90,000 hours working over our lifetimes. Let's try to enjoy it!
Jen E Miller & Associates is a full-service sales consulting firm, offering more than 25 powerful and impactful offerings.
#52words52weeks #salesblog #personaldevelopment #professionaldevelopment #friendsatwork #friendship #bestfriends #bff
(For all 2024 blog posts, you can find the hyperlinks for those posted here.)
Executive Assistant at Altarum
2 个月I got my first full-time job at the height of the pandemic, so all of my work was virtual. The effort made by executives to foster connection among employees really made a difference in forming those crucial workplace relationships. Without a doubt, my friendships with my coworkers had the biggest impact on my work-from-home experience.