Chatting over lunch and joking with coworkers may not seem like more than pleasant distractions at the office, but they could have an enormous impact on your work life. With employee engagement declining and more than eight in 10 American workers experiencing job-related stress -- female employees being even more more vulnerable to workplace tension than men -- friendship could make the difference between happiness at work and burnout. Research has found that strong social connections at the office can boost productivity, and could make employees more passionate about their work and less likely to quit their jobs.
According to Christine M. Riordan, provost and professor of management at the University of Kentucky, camaraderie is a key ingredient to happiness at work for male and female employees. A study led by Riordan, published in the Journal of Business Psychology in the '90s, found that the mere opportunity for friendship increases employee job satisfaction and organizational effectiveness.
In a recent Harvard Business Review blog "We All Need Friends At Work," Riordan pointed towards the multitude of evidence suggesting that office friendships can act as an antidote to dissatisfaction and disengagement at work. The type of relationships that go beyond casual Gchat buddies -- what she calls calls "the good old-fashioned friendships created when we chit-chat, hang out, joke, and have fun with co-workers" -- can have deep and far-ranging benefits in the workplace.