Friends at Work: Cultivating Connections that Count in 2025

Ever caught yourself mid-email, coffee in hand, cracking up over an inside joke with a colleague? That chuckle isn’t just a coffee break—it’s a cornerstone of your career health. Insights from my books Cultivate and You, Me, We reveal that friends at work aren’t just lovely to have; they’re essential for both job satisfaction and overall success. More than that, they significantly boost our overall health and happiness in life! Friends at work are a big deal!

As you write your New Year’s Resolutions (or if you’ve scrapped them already!) I encourage you to go beyond goals that focus on what you want to achieve and what you DO. Consider who you want by your side and how you’ll strengthen those work relationships.

Why Friends at Work Matter

Here’s how focusing on the ‘who’ at work and the quality of your workplace friendships can shift your career from mundane to extraordinary:

Friends at work help you de-stress: The perks of workplace friendships extend beyond sharing a sandwich. These bonds serve as stress buffers on those high-tension project days. As Eric Spencer, Ruby Vesely, and I discuss in You, Me, We, having a work pal for a quick vent or a laugh can flip your day from dreary to cheery. This emotional support keeps us sane and spikes our engagement and job satisfaction.

Friends at work boost productivity: Recall a time when a colleague helped rejuvenate a sluggish project or sparked an idea that made your work lighter. Friends at work transform goal pursuit into a team sport and provide the support we need when experiencing tougher days. Essentially, they keep us driven and on-point, and let’s face it, make a dull day way more fun!

Friends at work help you network: Work friendships organically morph into robust professional networks. These aren’t just rungs on a career ladder but lifelines during tough times and cheerleaders during winning times. They become a font of resources—from job tips to a sounding board, from introductions to help finding a new job—relationships matter!

How to make friends at work

Remember to focus on cultivating your winning relationships as you jot down your New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s how to kickstart those connections:

• Walk-and-Talk Meetings: Why sit when you can stroll? Walking meetings cut through office monotony and help you hit those fitness resolutions. Double win!
• Skill-Swap Sessions: Shake up the routine with meetups to teach each other new tricks and tools of the trade (bassoon lessons, anyone?). From coding to cooking, it’s all about growing together.
• Interest Clubs: Rally behind clubs, from Dungeons & Dragons to book buffs; shared passions forge stronger bonds.
• Online Competitions: Introduce some fun competitions like fitness challenges or photo contests.
• Go First!: Make it a habit to set up time with new (or familiar) faces you may see in your Zoom-Teams-Google meetings. Please don’t wait for others to reach out to you (they may not have read this article yet!). Instead, set up 10 minutes to check in, share what’s happening in your lives, and uncover ways to help support each other.

This January, let’s aim to deepen more than just professional skills. Let’s cultivate connections that count and invest in our workplace relationships in 2025. After all, at work, we indeed are #BetterTogether.k!