Will you be my " BEST" friend at work?
Vijay Balakrishnan
Independent Director| Board Member | C- Level Executive | Thought Leader | Marketing Transformation | Change Management | Ex Tata Consumer Products, Tata Tetley, Airtel, Docomo, Ujjivan and Cambridge International
Only two in 10 people say they have a best friend at work.
But companies, aware of how much culture matters, say trying to foster friendships couldn't be more awkward
?A fascinating article from Korn Ferry highlights unique insights and data on friends and buddies at work.
?According to a Gallup poll, just two in 10 people have a best friend at work. The group that has seen the most significant decline is younger workers: For those aged 35 and under, the two-in-10 figure is down from 25 percent in 2019.
?Companies, therefore, put profound efforts into building convivial, pleasant work settings. "You had these extraordinarily designed factories, and workers, mostly managers, lived in these beautiful houses, everyone designed differently," says evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford.
That's easier said than done.
As Arianne Cohen says in the article, "Any corporate leader will tell you that fostering friendships at work ranks among their toughest challenges. People who say they want friends may also resist coming into the office. Despite return-to-office mandates, people are showing up fewer than three days a week, on average, making managers and HR struggle with scheduling even the simplest buddy-making events. And when they do work together at the office, most people are too engrossed in their emails or social media to talk to one another."
?A recent University of Kansas study found that it takes 200 hours to build a true friendship. "You can't snap your fingers and make a friend, says researcher Jeffrey Hall, who suggests friendship blooms in stages.
领英推荐
A simple, easy-to-understand infographic beautifully illustrates the evolution of "friendship development" from 0 to 200 hours – where it reaches its pinnacle ( peruse the attached link to read more)
What has been your experience? Do you subscribe to Robin Dunbar's theory and the stages of workplace friendship that the researchers put together?
#friendatwork
#frenemies
#companyculture
#gallup