The type of workplace friendship you subscribe to, as well as your professional relationships, can impact your success and mental health either positively or negatively. Many professionals are known to say: “your coworkers are not your friends” but if the truth must be told, you spend a minimum of 8 hours daily in the same confined space with these people. Therefore, having a professional workplace friendship is critical to your daily routine.
What you should ensure is that there are set rules to respect your boundaries, as well as those of your colleagues. Let us take a quick look at 5 workplace friendship rules you should imbibe for a positive and lasting impact on your career growth.
Maintain Confidentiality
When coworkers entrust you with their private information, do not betray their trust by sharing it with other colleagues. Such information should be treated as personal and highly confidential. This would earn you their trust and respect from them.
Set Boundaries
Office banter and chit-chats are great but ensure it doesn’t take up your productive hours. If it does, this might affect your deliverables. If such lapses are discovered by the company’s management, you might receive a query. Worse still, you might be deemed unserious. Don’t let short-term gains and office fun affect your long-term career goals negatively. You should clearly mark the difference between the time to work and the time for chit-chats. Conversations about popular TV series and Netflix movies should not take up a chunk of your working hours.
Be Fair to All
Don’t allow your workplace friendship with others become the reason you treat coworkers who aren’t in your close circle with disdain. Maintain fair judgement to all at all times. Never allow a conflict of interest or an isolated incident affect your fair treatment of everyone.
Don’t Be Hasty
Getting to know people takes time; especially when you are the ‘new kid on the block.’ In time, you will naturally gravitate to people who share your interests. However, this does not mean you should blank out those whose views, opinions and lifestyles differ from yours.
Check The Rules
Always align with your workplace rules on what workplace friendship with others should be like. This will help you avoid a situation where you are flouting the rules and culture of the company you work for. Make it a point of duty to conduct yourself professionally in your engagement with others.
Don’t Get Too Personal
Don’t share anything that might hurt you in the future if your relationship with your workplace friend hits the rocks. People can change – The fact that someone likes you today does not mean you will remain friends in the next 6 months. The last thing you want is a situation where someone begins to use your personal information against you.
Conclusion on Workplace Friendship
Building professional workplace friendship can be beneficial for both social and professional reasons. However, you need to tread carefully and professionally to avoid making the office space stressful, full of anxiety or frustrating for your career.
