It’s not just a hunch, it’s also scientifically proven.
Just about everyone’s had to face this cringe-worthy challenge at some point in their life: having to work with someone who just grinds you to the core. Who gets under your skin and then some, and never lets up. Sometimes they’re out-and-out rude right from the get-go. They insult your shirt, your hair, and your lack of the “correct” lunch order the minute you meet. At other times, they seem to lay back and play it cool but eventually they can’t seem to help disagreeing. And wasting valuable company time. On every. Little. Thing. The title of your document, the font you’ve chosen, the cream in your coffee, you name it: they have a better way to do it, and they need to show you why and discuss it at length, presumably to fix your erroneous ways but maybe just to have an audience. In case you’re still listening.
Toxic co-workers are a real problem. According to a survey conducted by Randstad, up to 58% of employees who leave their workplace do so because of office politics, negativity at work, and overall disrespectful behaviour. Some considerable talent is going out the door, people.
What’s the answer? Some say it’s a set of tight lips and a stress ball to grip fondly whenever you aren’t typing. Others say it’s working with friends. It isn’t possible to have your whole social group congregating in the same workplace, of course, but research shows working with friends has its definite benefits. Check it out.
The truth behind the Happy Productive Worker Thesis
Scientists have made a science of what makes us happy at work. The Happy Productive Worker Thesis, (or HPWT), first showed up in organizational psychology in the 1930s. Basically, it argues that a happy worker is more productive. Experts have gone on to question this theory and many have said it doesn’t play out. A systematic review done in 2020, however, proves that collective well-being truly is positively correlated to collective performance and that humans do actually work better when they’re with their friends. Reading the study cited above is a bit of a slog but the general gist is that, yes, workplaces with friends can do better.
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And there’s more. A study done in 2017 at Ohio State University came to the same conclusions. Researchers analyzed the results of 26 studies related to work teams composed of friends. It was found teams of friends outperformed those that involved simple groups of strangers or acquaintances.
“Working with friends is not just something that makes us feel good — it can actually produce better results,” said Robert Lount. Lount was a co-author of the study and an associate professor at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.
In the study, friends were found to be able to coordinate tasks more effectively and they also were found to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses on a more detailed level. This allowed them to break up the work they needed to do, in order to assign it in the most efficient way. Which is a good thing.
Striking balance
Of course, you don’t want your employees chatting away all day and wasting company time on too much socializing. But with the right approach, a friendly team can work well.
“When you’re working with friends, you tend to be in a better mood and can work through the adversity and strain that sometimes comes from having to produce a lot in a short time,” said Seunghoo Chung.
(At the time of the study, Chung was a doctoral student in management and human resources at Ohio State).
So, get your friends to work with you, and foster friendships in your workplace. You’ll feel better for it and everyone will benefit. If you’re stuck working with Mr. and Ms. I’d Prefer to Be the Best at Everything, try to ignore the person. Those who cut you down because of your choice of coffee creamer aren’t your responsibility. They’ve simply got some issues going on. And it’s not your problem. Hopefully, they can eventually find their inner peace and let everyone else get on with it, for the interest of all involved. (Or, maybe not. But that’s not really your problem, either).
photo credits: I Believe I Can Fly/Shutterstock.com
