How important is it to have friends at work?
As adults, in any given week we spend much more time around people at work than we do outside of the organization. As social creatures, it is inevitable that we form personal relationships and friendships with those around us.
In fact, one of the questions from Gallup’s famous Q12 survey is, “I have a best friend at work.” By their own admission this is one of the more controversial questions on the survey. In my own companies I know we struggled with how to interpret this question. Are they asking if my best friend in the world just so happens to work with me? Do they mean there is someone at work I like better than others?
Despite the confusion around the question, the data is clear that friendship is more important than pay or benefits, and strongly correlates to productivity, safety, customer loyalty and profitability (source: The Collective Advantage, Gallup).
So how can leaders foster friendships in the workplace, for the benefit of the organization as a whole?
One solution is to implement employee resource groups (ERGs). ERGs are voluntary social groups for workers with similar interests or backgrounds. Common ERGs are organized around race/ethnicity, LGBT, disabilities, veterans, and women (source: ERGs Come of Age, Mercer).
ERGs are commonly known for their contributions in the areas of recruiting, community service, product development and providing insights into company policies. However, ERGs being social networks by definition make them a potent strategy when it comes to strengthening social bonds and developing “best friends” at work.
Companies with younger workforces may see the most success with ERGs. Software Advice conducted a survey to gauge opinions of ERGs and almost half of the adults between the ages of 18 and 34, the millennial generation, noted they’d be interested in joining one. Compared to other age groups in the survey, this millennial response was significantly higher. When it comes to using ERGs for recruitment purposes, over 70 percent of those between the ages 18-24 and 52 percent of those 25-34 said having ERGs would positively influence their decision to apply to a specific company.
When it comes to employee engagement there is not yet a body of research showing correlations between ERGs and engagement scores. However, the linkage between ERGs, strengthening social ties, friendships and engagement would be hard to deny. The same Software Advice survey revealed that 65% of all respondents believed ERGs would have a positive impact on engagement.
Top performing teams are ones where social bonds are strong, and the power of friendship and engagement cannot be denied. Effective leaders in large organizations should consider ERGs as a way to not just advance the cause of individual groups, but to enhance the engagement of the entire organization.
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