Friendships with Co-Workers: Should You or Shouldn't You?

The majority of most people spend the bulk of their waking hours at work. So, it is no wonder that friendships often bloom there. There are definite pros and cons to forming office friendships.

First for the pros:

Commonality - You have the bond of the work experience. Fellow co-workers know exactly what you are talking about when you bring up work issues in a conversation. The shared experience, good or bad, can create strong friendships.

Time Together - Even though you are in a work environment, there are opportunities to spend time together; breaks, lunches, etc. You are spending more time usually with co-workers than your own family.

Confidante - A co-worker is someone who you can bend their ear about a work problem and they are not likely to turn a deaf ear. They will generally be able to understand and sympathize with you on it.

Less Work Conflict - If you are friends with a co-worker you will likely get along instead of having the office vendetta going.

Promotions - Having friends in the right places could mean a better position or pay for you, depending on your friends standing in the company.

Now for the cons:

No Personal Time - I know in my former job, I was very close friends with a fellow co-worker. Because of job needs, our lunchtimes changed to different times and we hardly ever had days off together. So, our regularly scheduled girl time lunch went away and we had no personal time to spend together.

Too Much Time Together - We all have friends we love but sometimes need a break from. In the office, there is nowhere to hide from a friendly co-worker.

No Commonality Outside Work - Sometimes when we spend so much time on the job with someone, we find we are great work friends, but have nothing in common outside of that. The relationship becomes unsustainable if one of the other moves on to another job.

More Work Conflicts - In some cases, conflicts can arise from personal issues brought into the work place. If you have a spat outside work, it will affect your productivity and the work mood.

Promotions - Promotion of one person in the friendship could lead to conflicts if they find themselves in a supervisory role over the other friend. Business decisions often do not jive with how a friend feels they should be treated. If you have to make your friend work overtime or on their day off, they might not understand that you are just being the boss and not the friend.

Having the right expectations about friendships with co-workers can help alleviate some of the possible tension.