8 Awesome Benefits of Having Friends at Work

A lot of working adults spend an average of nine (9) hours a day in the office sans overtime.  This is a more than 1/3 of our daily lives spent with officemates.  Lucky for some who enjoys having a member of their family to be working in the same company but most of us spend these 9 hours with officemates that are complete strangers. 

But these complete strangers we call officemates can no longer be strangers if we decide to extend a cordial bond.  They can be our friends.  J  Let me cite with you eight (8) awesome benefits of having friends at work.

Someone who will update you of office mandates.  Updates about office mandate, rules, and regulations go around via memorandums.  But most of the time, these updates about office rules are informed to you before hand by a friend at work.  This is very beneficial for you, especially if you are not around the office during the distribution of memos, as you might be following old office rules.

Someone who will give an honest feedback of your work.  We are all good at what we do – but it doesn’t hurt to ask for feedback about your work quality.  And who can give you the best opinion (a constructive one) other than a friend at work?

Someone you can talk office chikas to.  Believe it or not, most office workers are hyped whenever they hear office chikas.  Some use it to while away time.  Good or bad, office chikas go around the office like wildfire.  Thanks to some friends at work, you won’t be the last person to know it.  But be very careful though when sharing office chikas to your office friends as you might be quoted in saying something negative and this can backfire.

Someone who will eat with you (or drink coffee too).  Only a few people want to eat alone.  Most people want to eat by group especially in the office.  Eating with your friends at work gives you time to talk and share ideas (and office chikas too J).  This goes the same with drinking coffee before starting your day.

Someone who will be your stress reliever.  Working can be stressful, a lot of times.  Friends at work will help you relieve your stress at work – may it be work-related or officemate-related. 

Someone who will bond with you after office hours.  GIMIK, anyone?  Oh, the singles can relate so well.  But for married people, bonding after office hours with your friends at work can be rushing to the supermarket to buy groceries or maybe going to the drugstore for some vitamins.  You want to have someone to talk to while doing these errands, right?

Someone who will be your ally. Everyone will agree that no single office environment is perfect.  Office politics can be tough.  Office relationships (boss to employee) can always be a challenge.  Having someone as your ally in the office is beneficial.  Who else better defend you from bashers in the office other than your friends at work?

Someone who cares.  Needless to say, during the 9 hours you stay in the office daily, you need someone who cares.  Someone who makes sure you ate your lunch on time so you won’t get sick.  Someone who makes sure you don’t break office policies so you won’t get reprimanded.  Someone who makes sure you laugh a lot to break away the stress. J

Whatever type of work environment you are into and whatever type of industry you work for, having friends at work is a sanity saver.  I speak by experience.  I once work for a BPO company for several years and, now that I shifted to the Media Industry, my friends at work save my sanity a great deal.  This is a shout out to them because they know who they are.  And overall, the most awesome benefit you get when you have friends at work is that they are your family at the office! J