In the Media – Handling awkward friendship situations at work (DailyWorth)
DailyWorth (screenshot)
February 3, 2016
Writing for DailyWorth, journalist Natasha Burton talks about some of the very awkward situations that can occur when friendships ensue at work. She writes:
Having friends at work is a blessing: You have someone to eat lunch with, a sounding board for ideas, and a supportive shoulder to lean on when the boss is being completely unreasonable. Besides, you likely spend eight-plus hours a day, five days a week with them — which means you probably see them much more often than your outside-of-work pals.
Burton interviewed a number of relationship experts and asked them their advice about ten different friendship dilemmas at work. One scenario she describes in the article is when one friend gets a promotion and the other doesn’t. She writes:
Psychologist and creator of The Friendship Blog, Irene S. Levine, PhD, suggests saying that your new roles may alter your office relationship, but you hope it won’t disrupt your friendship. Feel free to tell your friend that you need some time to adjust to your new responsibilities and won’t be as available, friend-wise, as you used to be, she says.
And you may need to “be cautious about separating your work from your friendship,” she says, especially when it comes to discussing sensitive work-related information.
Click here to read the DailyWorth article in its entirety with all the scenarios and expert advice.
Category: OTHER ADVICE
Work friends are situational. The less personally involved you are, the better. Things can quickly go bad at work if you bring in too much personal detail.
Not always. Some of my best friends were made at work and some go back decades.
One if my oldest friendships began as a manager/employee relationship when I was fresh out of undergrad. She’s 6 years older than me. I always understood that she was the boss/mentor in the work relationship. As I was promoted through the ranks, relationship became more equal in terms of “power” professionally; 30 years later, I still see her as a mentor in some respects, but there is also balance,