The dark side of workplace friendships: Lower productivity

Collegiality’s great — but there can be some downsides to workplace friendships, according to a University of Florida researcher.
It’s fine to keep employees who are good friends side by side in the workplace — pals often help each other by working closely on a job, says Jessica Methot, who did the study for her doctoral dissertation at UF. But if the friends work in different departments, the relationship can actually cause a drop in productivity.
Too often these employees chat about non-office related topics with chums, interfering with their ability to focus on their duties and interrupting the flow of work, Methot said. Co-workers feel obligated to stop what they are doing to help their friends when they have a question, knowing their friends would do the same for them, she said.
An emotional cost
While it is more productive to keep friends in the same department, Methot also learned that personal closeness can backfire if employees become too emotional and distracted on the job. “Having co-workers who provide empathy and boost one’s spirits may actually detract from the ability to do the job,” said Methot, who’s now an assistant professor at Rutgers University.
The emotional distress that went along with managing friendships in a professional setting — even though they offer some benefits — makes it more difficult for employees to focus on their work.
Particularly problematical: reports of good news, such as raises and promotions, which cause hard feelings if co-workers feel they are passed over in favor of friends, Methot said. “When someone else is rewarded who does the same type of work, you want to be happy for them, but there is likely to be tension,” she said.
An interesting conundrum —  having friends at work is often characterized as a major morale booster, but it appears that lift carries a cost. So should employers learn to live with a slight decrease in productivity in order to maintain staff spirit and loyalty?