While working from home offers advantages, there are drawbacks as well. One of them has to do with friendships at work. Having an office may not always facilitate the development of friendships among coworkers when working remotely. Just two out of ten workers in the US claim to have a “best friend” at work. That data originates from a June 2022 Gallup opinion survey. Jim Harter works for Gallup as a researcher on workplace and well-being. “We (are) seeing in the data that younger people feel more disengaged from their workplaces,” he stated.
Young individuals who are “less connected to their workplace,” according to Harter, have fewer opportunities to build relationships with their coworkers. “Developing those kinds of friendships that they might have had in the past” could be challenging. Furthermore, he mentioned that the degree of trust among coworkers varies. “When you’re farther away, it’s much harder to build close kinds of relationships,” he remarked. Consider the character Crystal Powers. In the state of Wisconsin, she manages medical records. In February 2022, Powers started working remotely again.
Since the epidemic, Powers is the only manager brought on board to supervise full-time remote employees. She claimed that team building has been challenging. Of the five persons she manages, she has not yet met the second in person. “Because they still don’t really know me,” she stated, “it (has) been more challenging than it has been in past positions to… earn the trust in me as a supervisor.” She has also had trouble establishing online connections with other supervisors. Powers stated that she still enjoys working remotely. According to Harter of Gallup, the prevalence of remote and hybrid work has increased the value of having a best buddy at work.
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