Friendship at work: a blessing or a curse?

Is it possible to be friends while working together?

30th July is International Friendship Day. This special date inspired us to think about friendship at the workplace, is it a blessing or a curse?

the importance of friendship at work

There are several discussions about being friends at work. Some truly believe that friendship between people who work together is essential for business success and that having close friends at work is rewarding. Others are sure friendship is disturbing especially in the case of managerial positions.

After the pandemic, the time employees spent together with their colleagues at the office drastically decreased. Some employees have permanently shifted to remote work, hybrid option has also become popular among many companies. Thus, making friends at work has become more difficult.

So, what is essential for healthy working relationships? Is it important to be friends at work?

The benefits of friendship at work

The importance of friendship at work

According to many studies, working relationships between people who know each other well can be very beneficial. Friends often have shared experiences that make collaborating easy and enjoyable. Sometimes friends understand each other without any words, saving time and showing efficiency within several projects.

Working together also makes it easier to achieve common goals as both parties have mutual trust and know what they need to do to succeed.

There are dozens of articles out there reading solid reasons why we should never ever work with our friends. To have friends and to be friendly are different notions.

The disadvantages of friendship at work

the importance of friendship at work

Old friends are gold and there is no need to risk the friendship, as competition or winning a promotion can ruin it. Sometimes if the positions of the friends are not equal it is impossible to avoid a conflict.

At Quality Tech Lab every single person matters

Every day we are happy and thankful that we have managed to create a healthy working environment at Quality Tech Lab. We have both cases, some of our employees are friends, others are friendly with each other. But firstly, we respect each other, because every single person matters to the company’s success.

The importance of friendship at work

We have asked 5 of our team members to share their thoughts about friendship at work and to explain the pros and cons of the topic.

Lilit Simonyan, Software Testing Engineer

I truly believe that it is possible to have real friendship at work. By the way, sometimes a working place becomes a reason to find a true friend for life.

I think that colleagues can even be friends at work, even if they do not have close relationships in everyday life.

Samvel Muradyan, Implementation and DevOps Engineer

Everything is possible, but I don’t think it is right to be friends with employees in managerial positions. There can be some issues if your direct manager is your friend.

But in general, there should be no toxic environment at the workplace, only a friendly attitude, and respect.

David Khachatryan, Software Testing Engineer

It is important to have best friends at work, but one shouldn’t do business with a bff. One of the most important advantages of friendship is the motivation that is very efficient during the workflow.

It is easier to give feedback to your friend. That helps to build a healthy environment at work.

Arevik Hovnanyan, Senior Testing Engineer

It is important to have friends at work if you wanna wake up and hurry to work and enjoy the process. It can be quite challenging if you have a managerial position but I believe in the power of friendship and that it helps to overcome all difficulties and issues.

In general, people matter, this is the most important thing for me.

Narine Hakobyan, Software Testing Engineer

Friendship rules at Quality Tech Lab and that helps a lot. One spends up to 8 hours a day at the office and many people eventually become an important part of your life. They become your friends.

I have had a negative experience of working with friends previously. But I am so happy now to see that friendship at work is real and it helps to succeed.

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