The Impact of Best Friends at Work
Why a Best Friend At Work Is Important
Gallup has repeatedly shown that having best friends at work is key to employee engagement and job success. Gallup data indicate that having a best friend at work is strongly linked to business outcomes, including profitability, safety, inventory control, and retention.
Employees who have a best friend at work are significantly more likely to:
- engage customers and internal partners
- get more done in less time
- support a safe workplace with fewer accidents and reliability concerns
- innovate and share ideas
- have fun while at work
Unfortunately, leaders are facing significant challenges in supporting connections and friendships among a physically distant workforce. In the U.S., just two in 10 employees report having a best friend at work.
Strategies to Promote a "Best-Friends" Culture
In Gallup's experience working with clients, the following strategies can help promote best friends at work for in-person, remote, and hybrid workers:
1. Promote intentionality, starting with leaders.
Intentionality starts with leaders who celebrate and champion best friends at work, from the C-suite to front-line managers. Employees learn behavioral norms and cues from their managers and leaders— and they need the "OK" from leaders to develop friendships on the job.
2. Create interactive opportunities for friendships to blossom.
Team structures, workflows, and other systems and practices can make or break employees' ability to develop real friendships at work. Leaders should assess how factors like performance expectations and time requirements support (or impede) having best friends at work. Do employees have time, opportunities, and permission to form spontaneous connections?
3. Communicate often.
Encouraging consistent conversation and connection is key to cultivating best friends at work. It also fuels performance excellence: Through conversation, employees who are best friends can bring their authentic selves to their work and can support one another, maintain accountability, share ideas, and use their strengths to contribute to a superior product.
Leaders Must Set An Example
Communication starts with leaders setting an example -- creating a culture where friendly dialogue is the norm. For instance, managers should send weekly team emails to encourage recognition, celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, and relay what everyone's working on.
Click here to access the full Gallup article.
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