Can you be friends with colleagues

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Thank you! You are now a Monster member—and you'll receive more content in your inbox soon. By continuing, you agree to Monster's privacy policy , terms of use and use of cookies. Search Career Advice. The right way to have friendships at work Having work friends can definitely make you happier on the job. Elana Lyn Gross, Monster contributor. Treat friends at work with extra care. With this, developing strong relationships and a sense of trust with your coworkers may allow you to be more productive in your role overall.

There are varying types of relationships you can forge with your coworkers to achieve this type of bond. Most professionals choose to develop working relationships with certain limitations, but others also pursue closer friendships at work. Your ability to form friendships with coworkers may depend on the type of industry you work in, how many members are on your team, the organization you work for and your personal preferences.

While maintaining friendships in a professional environment can be a challenging task, especially for professionals who prefer to uphold clear work-life boundaries, becoming friends with coworkers can also lead to significant benefits.

Related: 11 Tips for Working With a Friend. There are various advantages you may enjoy by becoming friends with your coworkers in terms of engagement and overall job satisfaction. When considering friendships with your colleagues, it may be useful to consider these benefits. Here are some pros of becoming friends with your coworkers explained:.

Being friends with your coworkers can lead to a higher sense of trust in the workplace. When you better understand your colleagues' personalities, motivations and perspectives, it may be easier to have confidence in them and their work output.

This is because trust is an integral part of being able to collaborate effectively with others, from here, you may be able to rely on your coworkers, feel more assured that they have your team's best interest in mind and enjoy a higher level of comfort while working alongside them.

Additionally, your coworkers may begin to feel the same comfort around you. Having friends at work may help you feel more energized throughout the day and boost your overall productivity levels. Socializing with others in a professional environment can empower you and motivate you to be more efficient while completing your day-to-day tasks. In addition, if your organization's output relies on your ability to work effectively as a part of a team, forming friendships with colleagues can make this task easier and far more enjoyable than otherwise possible.

Even further, professional friendships can help you develop a sense of accountability toward others on your team, which may improve your productivity overall.

For many professionals, it can be challenging to maintain engagement and feel present at work. A lack of engagement, which can affect productivity levels and job satisfaction rates, often stems from an absence of fruitful relationships and stimulating activity as professionals complete their respective duties throughout the day. Forming friendships with your colleagues may better stimulate you throughout the day, offer a sense of value and belonging in the workplace and increase your ability to remain present.

With this, being friends with your coworkers might mitigate engagement issues and allow you to feel more immersed in your work.

When teams are able to collaborate successfully, they can produce remarkable results and achieve even the highest of organizational goals. Being able to incorporate various perspectives, knowledge sets and skills into a working environment can be highly valuable. Even so, many organizations experience a lack of collaboration due to insufficient investments in team building, an absence of trust and high rates of competitiveness.

Being friendly with your coworkers can provide more opportunities for collaboration and make it a less strenuous task. As friends, you and your colleagues may feel more comfortable sharing your opinions, offering expertise and working together. It's common for the success of organizations to hinge on their employees' ability to communicate competently with one another and clients alike. Even with this, though, it can be challenging to do so and some workplaces provide few opportunities for employees to practice their communication skills.

Fostering friendships with your coworkers can offer a chance for you to develop your communication skills. Further, communicating regularly with your colleagues can strengthen your ability to do so effectively with one another when you truly understand an individual and how they operate on a day-to-day basis, you can better relay messages in a conversation.

Professionals who feel isolated may become overwhelmed by demands at work and find it challenging to meet expectations on a regular basis. Therefore, it can be incredibly beneficial to have a support system in your professional life.

By forming friendships with colleagues, you can develop a robust system of support that you can tap into when you experience stress, need help meeting deadlines or have questions about certain components of your tasks. Coworkers who are also your friend may be more willing to offer their assistance during times of need and can offer reassurance when things get challenging.

Related: 15 Rules for Friendships at Work. Being able to handle the stress that may accompany your professional life is a necessity to foster success.

You listen to them and try to be honest with your feedback. What happens? Suddenly, you become an enemy. A defector. Think that scenario is too harsh? Think again. Feedback, criticism, etc, is often viewed as an attack. That has nothing to do with you. Most people are bad at receiving feedback. So never be too honest. Does that make you fake? No, it makes you empathetic.

Work on the way you deliver your feedback or criticism. Those people should grow up and not be offended by my criticism. But you can change yourself. Research shows that the more you see someone, the more attractive they become. So you grab dinner together. And the rest happens automatically. Shit happens. But it sure can be if you handle it wrong. Because if you rely too much on each other, you become targets of gossip.

And that kind of stuff is not helpful when you want to make your next move in the company. John gets away with everything! Every firm, business unit, and the team has a John or Johanna. Someone the company relies on.

Naturally, Johanna is favored and gets special treatment. And what happens?