Living in cube-isolation? (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)How friendly are you with your co-workers?
Although close relationships at work are often frowned on by bosses, it turns out that employees who are friendly with each other are better able to cope with office stress.
Researchers have long known that work stress can take a heavy toll on health. Studies have shown that stress at work increases the risk for depression, heart attack and other health worries. But now a new report shows that the solution to work stress may be found in the cubicle next door. Employees who feel social support at work are far less likely to suffer serious depression problems, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center studied data collected from more than 24,000 Canadian workers in 2002. They found that 5 percent of the workers suffered from serious bouts of depression. Notably, men who endured high job strain were two times more likely to succumb to depression than men with minimal job stress. Women who had little decision-making authority had twice the depression risk compared to women with more power.
While those findings were consistent with earlier research on job stress, the Rochester scientists detected a surprising trend. People who said they felt generally supported by their colleagues and could lean on co-workers in a time of crisis were spared the rigors of job stress. In the study, men and women who felt little social support at work were two to three times more likely to suffer major bouts of depression.
“It’s more than just friendship,’’ said Emma Robertson Blackmore, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester and the lead author on the study. “Your family and friends give you support, but because they’re not in your work environment they don’t have the level of understanding that your work colleagues do.’’ Work friends, she noted, “get where you’re coming from.’’
The findings are especially important to employers and managers who sometimes view fraternizing by colleagues as a distraction that interferes with productivity. But Dr. Robertson Blackmore notes that because work friendships lower job stress and risk for major depression, employees who get along and support each other are likely to be more productive. Depression at work reduces employee productivity, increases disability and absences and may lead to premature retirement, the journal report notes.
The data should also encourage workers who are reticent about getting close to colleagues to try to foster work friendships. “To a large degree, co-workers share the same kind of stresses,’’ noted Dr. Robertson Blackmore. “Having someone who has that level of understanding is quite protective.’’
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From 1 to 25 of 104 Comments
And now a memo from the DUH! department: it’s still nice to have scientific verification. But the overriding ? is: management always seeks “Teamwork”, but there should not be friendships in the “team”?
— terryAw…
— quinnWhat about those of us with a window view office, who are very lonely at the top, either ’cause we can’t trust no one, or because trusted ones may be called upon to render any inside knowledge or comaparative advantage we may have developed over the rest of mankind, as far as they could tell. When people commit treason, or attempt to friendly fire us, our snipers go fragging’, and they love it
— samuraiConsider the findings in light of the photo accompanying the article. I work in a very similar environment, with workers stacked practically on top of each other, to maximize space. There is very little audial or visual privacy in this type of setting. Any conversation or visit is being noted and overheard by many other co-workers.
How is it possible to develop friendship and rapport with a co-worker without even a modicum of privacy? And with higher management monitoring possible instances of slacking off?
Cube rats know that we are in a goldfish bowl, and it’s better to clam up and keep our noses to the pixelated grindstone than try to fulfill any desire for emotional connection at our jobs.
— Alan TorriseFinally an article that describes my agony about work. Everyday, I tell him my problems and everyday he listens to me patiently. I know sometimes he probably gets tired of me yapping but God Bless him he continues to listen.
— AcevazFor better or worse, people bond over a common foe (NY Times even had an article about that topic). So it’s no surprise that you can have a very collegial environment among the office staff, esp. one with a tyrannical boss. I’ve experienced this myself…
— NYCgirlTrue, but don’t confuse temporary work friends with permanent friends, who will be there when the job ends.
— Panem et CircansesThe workers best able to cope with office stress are those who are paid well — but of course it’s a lot cheaper for your employer if you just find yourself a buddy.
— CCGood points in the article but it’s very hard to make friends in a department or office environment where the workers aren’t really coordinated in what they’re doing every day. If you are working in a department where your manager will not assign tasks to members of the team, but instead expects people to survive only by “making friends” and getting friends to help you do your job, fill in for you so you can take vacation, and so forth… then WARNING! You’re working in a dysfunctional environment.
Having friends at work to lean on is NOT a substitute for good personnel management. I’ve worked in departments where management was nearly nonexistent, and let me tell you, having to run around and rely on work “friends” for everything is really not conducive to productivity in the long run.
— DonnaThe Chinese have a saying, “No friends at work”. It’s true.
— JaredThis seems inconsistent. The article says “men who endured high job strain were two times more likely to succumb to depression than men with minimal job stress. Women who had little decision-making authority had twice the depression risk compared to women with more power.”
But aren’t those with more power subject to more job strain? Aren’t those with little decision-making authority subject to minimal job stress? With power, comes stress; the higher the job title, the higher the stress, no?
TPP responds: Good question. You would think that stress increases the higher you are in the company, but research shows it’s actually quite good to be the boss. Job stress is worse for people who have little control or decision making authority. Several studies out of Britain, called the Whitehall Studies have shown this, including this report which showed that workers reporting low job control experienced stress more frequently over the working day than did those with high job control. That study also showed that women were more stressed by lack of control than men. So yes, more responsibility at work can certainly be stressful. But responsibility also comes with power, and having power and control over your day helps protect against the kind of job stress that takes a toll on your health. Thanks for a great question. tpp
— JeffreyI don’t understand the article’s opening sentence, “although close relationships are often frowned on by employers”. What employers frown on this?
Is this an American thing (I’m British)? It’s not just that I’ve never worked for any employer who expressed this view, but I’ve never even heard of such a thing.
As the first poster said, the benefits of friends at work are blindingly obvious, as anyone who’s ever worked in an environment where colleagues _didn’t_ get on could tell you.
But can someone give me concrete examples of how employers discourage workplace friendships? Would this mean, for example, that you weren’t supposed to go out for drinks together on a Friday night, or keep quiet if you’d been to each other’s houses for dinner?
I couldn’t imagine such a work environment. I’ve recently left a very stressful job in a deeply dysfunctional workplace. Only my friends and I got each other through each day or week there, and now I’ve left, I still worry about the friends I’ve left behind, and try to continue being supportive of them by being a ’sounding board’ after a bad day - because as the article comments, often only people who know the specific work environment truly ‘get it’, and partners can get very stressed themselves listening to you off-loading after yet another bad day. Of course some workplace friendships end of their own accord after one of you leaves, but others go on for years and years. After all, you’re likely to have a lot in common…
— puzzled…Two words for reducing office stress: happy hour
Matt B
— MattFort Myers, FL
I agree with Puzzled - I’ve never been in a situation where friendships in the workplace were frowned upon. Romantic relationships, perhaps, but even that was routinely overlooked (I married a co-worker, one of three couples who married from a very small consulting firm).
— TeresaI’d say at least 90% of my friends have been made at work (or through work, since I became a freelancer who works from home). One goes back more than 30 years, several others, 20+ years. Were it not for work I’d be practically friendless!
— JamieI totally agree with the article and am surprised that so many who commented think workplace friendships are difficult to achieve. Every place I’ve worked I joined a Lunch Bunch, either one already established or one started slowly but surely with like minded workers. I am still friends and in contact with people I worked with 40 years ago, though I moved out of state. And with friends from 3 other workplaces. It not only helped each of us when we had difficult work or life situations, it also helped our bosses and the business. We all knew contacts in other departments that could answer questions, speed performance, and cooperate as a team to resolve customer or company problems. Getting to know people in other departments, helps all involved to better understand work flow, and the big picture. And most importantly, how to get things done. It made work fun. I looked forward to going to work each day, having lunch with my friends, and thrashing out any problems with people who understood the situations and the players.
— SharonA lot of work-related friendships are results of gripes against real, perceived or imagined unfair company policies.
While building close friendships at work is healthy, imagine how toxic it can be if the colleague who befriends you does so because she needs a sounding board. It’s more stressful hanging around someone who complaints about anything from paper clips to changing work shifts to paychecks when she is already making tons more than you do (and she doesn’t know it).
— KayeSometimes the simplest truths are also the most powerful.
— Mark Gary Blumenthal, MD, MPHWe’re here to make money, we’re not here to make friends. If it works out, it’s great, but if not, I still have to show up here every day.
Imagine for a second a very conservative workplace, maybe even civil service. The norm is Catholic high school followed by Catholic college, though of course there are exceptions. People get married, have children, etc. Now picture a childless (by choice) employee. Oddball, right? How about gay or lesbian? Q: “How was your weekend?” A: “Much, much different than yours no doubt.”
What is required is that we be civil to and/or with our co-workers. I treat them with respect and expect that they will treat me with respect.
— fixedgearWhile this was a cheering article because it reminded me of some great friendships, the basic approach bothers me. It treats people like objects. Instead of taking a pill or seeing a counselor, try making friends with your co-workers. Just make sure they don’t know it’s for your health, not because you have any interest in them.
Frankly, I would rather be stressed out at work than feel that I’m using someone else to get rid of my angst. I don’t think you could call that a real friendship, just a utilitarian relationship.
— ElissaIn response to Puzzled, there are at least two situations where (at least in the US) bosses discourage workplace friendships. First, some bosses can’t stand to see workers chatting with each other. It’s hard to get people to go to happy hour if there’s no “space” at work in which to get to know colleagues.
— marySecond, some bosses–in extremely dysfunctional workplaces–practice a “divide-and-conquer” strategy to keep employees weak. This strategy involves rewarding loyalty, where loyalty means “coming to the boss and reporting on who is complaining about the boss’s decisions.” It may also include the boss trying to weaken potential alliances by giving some of alliance members false or damaging information about other alliance members. (I know this sounds ridiculously paranoid, but the boss I know who practices this is proud of her self-described “Machiavellian” management style.)
I personally do NOT want “FRIENDS” at work, WHY feed the GOSSIP MONGERS!!!
— MichelleI have worked in the kind of place where the owner/president had a divide and conquer attitude, in which he wanted conflict in the office because he wanted people to only come to him and not solve work-related problems together as teammates, let alone friends. Close working relationships made him feel out of the loop and out of control, even though he didn’t know much of the technical details of his own business. He just left that to whomever was his current favored son. It was a very distressful and unhappy place to work.
I have also worked at places where good working relationships and friendships were encouraged, and where full pariticpation in the growth and development of the company was (and is) encouraged. It makes all the difference in the world!
Work can be a very positive experience. Having some authority and self-direction in your work, as well as the responsibility that comes with that, friendships and a sense of collaboration with others in trying to accomplish something other than just trying to earn a paycheck are details that make a workplace a great place to be, without any sense of drugery or bitter unhappiness.
— Amywant close bonds?
— Piatake an elementary school with
a dictator principal…
what a lesson for our children!
It continues to intrigue me what a variety of people we have in this world.
— minuetoneFixedgear’s comment
“We’re here to make money, we’re not here to make friends.”
is at odds with some of the others, but I know he is not alone.
My own 20 year career has been formed by the desire to work with people I trust and respect. I have left “highly compensated” positions twice when self-centered, “willing to do anything for money” people made up the team. It just was not worth it to stand alone, and have to look out constantly for the sharks. Management rewarded this behavior because it made them money.
I would rather be a happy one of the lowly!