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| MY
WORK FRIENDS |
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| Co-workers
used to bring with them an unusual set of rules
and boundaries. Water cooler discussions and office
politics used to be the reason we had bad work laughs
and watched even worse reality shows. We used to
think of them not as our close friends but more
like bad family members. You had to find a way to
co-exist with them based out of necessity. We had
no choice but to see these people everyday and interact
with them. If it wasn’t for our parallel working
relationship, we would probably never take any interest
in them or their lives. Sharing the same set of
responsibilities compelled us to interact at a social
level. Just think of all the jobs you’ve had
and how many of those co-workers you still keep
in touch with. Not many. |
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| Research
and Development in Human Resources has found employee
morale to be the highest between colleagues who
have more in common than just their careers. Careful
human resource planning now takes into account personalities
and attitudes as much as work experience when selecting
candidates. Through its effort to create the perfect
work environment for employees to thrive in, the
corporate world has inadvertently created a mainstream
relationship that is tied to the office yet is starting
to dominate our personal lives. This ultimate love
child of the ideal corporate environment and society
is what we call our “Work Friends.”
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| Christmas
parties and office retreats used to be the only
way coworkers got a glimpse into our personal lives
.Now we almost look for excuses to make room for
work friends in our social lives. We invite them
to our birthdays and go to they’re girlfriend’s
cousin’s wedding socials. Seems like everyone
has ‘work’ things to go to or meet work
friends for drinks. Ask yourself this, isn’t
it a little too much? Being a colleague aside, can
you maintain the friendship with out the job? It
hasn’t been that way in the past with old
co-workers. So why dedicate so much time to this
relationship? And why hesitate to remove the “work”
tag from the friendship? |
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| The
truth is these people aren’t our friends,
they‘re our co-workers. We expect and demand
so much from all of our other relationships, from
our parents to our siblings and close friends. Yet
we give our co-workers the opportunity to plan our
evenings and sometimes even our weekends. The social
scene of our job environment has become so important
that we are willing to put in overtime to build
working relationships without realizing it. It can
be taking away from valuable time that could be
used to build better relationships with the people
you love and care about. So maybe the next time
you’re invited out for drinks after work,
stop working so hard, and call up the guys/girls
to go out for a few beers instead. |
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