The Advantages and Disadvantages of Work Friendships

You spend anywhere from 10 hours a week to 40 hours or more a week at your job. In that time, it is almost inevitable that you will become good friends with one or more of your coworkers. Having friends at work gives you one thing to look forward to about your job.

The benefits of having friends at work are almost similar to having regular friends, except with some twists.

Work friends will understand the challenges and commitments you're facing. When it seems like your family just doesn't understand what your boss expects, your colleagues know where you're coming from. You have someone to vent to over lunch or during happy hour.

You have one more person to hang out with after work. Even if you spend a lot of time there, it will be better to go out if you know you don't mind spending just a couple more hours with some of your beloved coworkers.

You look forward to coming to work to see your friends and have someone to gossip with when there is a lot of downtime.

The disadvantages of having work friends:

If your friend quits, they may not keep in touch with their former coworkers; including you. How would you feel about never talking to them again, or talking to them so rarely it seems almost worthless to keep the friendship?

You may miss your friend at work and therefore, you may start disliking your job and feel like you have nothing to look forward to or feel depressed about going in.

Your friend may badmouth the company and some of your coworkers and bosses, making you uncomfortable.

Even if you promise to keep up the friendship after you two stop working together, what if their new job requires more work? What if they have a longer commute? Even the best of promises can be broken if your friend has no energy to hang out.

If you and your friend continue to be coworkers, ensure that at work, no secrets are safe. Say you tell your friend how much you can't stand the boss and say some things that you ask them to keep quiet. They may agree to your face, but if they're not trustworthy enough, the word will get out and your boss will be upset about your remarks. It will be harder to explain yourself than it would if you had just gone to your boss with a problem.

Making friends at work can be beneficial to your career, but it can also backfire if you don't hang around the right people and make work only about friendships. Choose wisely and don't say anything you wouldn't want everyone gossiping about after lunch.