It is commonly argued that the primary goal of every employee is to focus on his/her job duties, while being on good terms with colleagues is not crucial. Although I agree that being productive at work is more important than trying to befriend all colleagues, I think that it is advantageous to have at least a few friends in the workplace.
On the one hand, maintaining good relations with all co-workers is often hard and even counter-productive. Firstly, it is very emotionally demanding to forge friendships in the office. It is almost impossible to cater for every colleague’s needs and interests, be nice even with people who irritate you, and make friends under stressful conditions. Moreover, sometimes it is wiser to eschew the niceties of interaction in favor of productivity. For instance, if all people were trying to build good relationships with everyone in their workplace, much less work would be done.
On the other hand, there are many compelling reasons to get closer to our colleagues. First of all, it is very beneficial to build warm relationships with those who surround you most of the time. Many full-time employees spend more of their waking hours with co-workers than they do with their families. And thus, people who have a few friends in their offices are usually happier than their solitary peers. Secondly, good interpersonal relations result in an improved teamwork. It is not a secret that team members who like and respect each other tend to collaborate on a project more effectively.
In conclusion, we need to find a healthy balance between being productive at work and forming social bonds. The ideal option is to find friends in the workplace, but not at the cost of our own productivity.
It is
commonly
argued that the primary goal of every employee is to focus on his/her job duties, while being on
good
terms with
colleagues
is not crucial. Although I
agree
that being productive at work is more
important
than trying to befriend all
colleagues
, I
think
that it is advantageous to have at least a few
friends
in the workplace.
On the one hand, maintaining
good
relations with all co-workers is
often
hard
and even counter-productive.
Firstly
, it is
very
emotionally
demanding to forge friendships in the office. It is almost impossible to cater for every
colleague’s
needs and interests, be nice even with
people
who
irritate you, and
make
friends
under stressful conditions.
Moreover
,
sometimes
it is wiser to eschew the niceties of interaction in favor of productivity.
For instance
, if all
people
were trying to build
good
relationships with everyone in their workplace, much less work would
be done
.
On the other hand
, there are
many
compelling reasons to
get
closer to our
colleagues
.
First of all
, it is
very
beneficial to build warm relationships with those
who
surround you most of the time.
Many
full-time employees spend more of their waking hours with co-workers than they do with their families. And
thus
,
people
who
have a few
friends
in their offices are
usually
happier than their solitary peers.
Secondly
,
good
interpersonal relations result in an
improved
teamwork. It is not a secret that team members
who
like and respect each other tend to collaborate on a project more
effectively
.
In conclusion
, we need to find a healthy balance between being productive at work and forming social bonds. The ideal option is to find
friends
in the workplace,
but
not at the cost of our
own
productivity.