Having a best friend at work can make you more successful

Getting along with your colleagues can go a long way to making you happy, but studies show that having a best friend at work can actually improve your chances of success.

A Gallup poll found that people who report having a best friend at work were 43% more likely to say they’d received praise or recognition for their work in the last seven days. But the differentiation between “friends” and “best friends” is apparently important, as when the group removed the “best” qualifier from their survey the results changed for the worse.

In addition to receiving more praise, the poll found people with best friends at work were:

• 37% more likely to report that someone at work encourages their development
• 35% more likely to say their co-workers are committed to quality
• 28% more likely to say someone has talked to them about their progress in the last six months
• 27% more likely to say their company’s mission makes their job feel important
• 27% more likely to feel their opinion matters
• And 21% more likely to report they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day.

Gallup concluded that management should recognise the value of close friendships among employees, as loyalty toward colleagues can often be a deciding factor when someone is deciding whether to leave a job. Encouraging relationships among co-workers also harbours trust in the organisation and can improve overall satisfaction at the office.

Read the full Gallup report at bit.ly/29LqDGA