High school isn’t the only place where cliques can be found. They’re also at the office.
A survey by CareerBuilder finds that 43% of employees in the United States say there are cliques at their workplace.
“Thirteen percent of workers said the presence of office cliques has had a negative impact on their career progress,” says Rosemary Haefner, the company’s vice-president of HR. “While it’s human nature to associate with peers who possess similar personality types and characteristics, cliques can be counterproductive in the workplace.”
While more managers are trying to assemble workers from different groups to work on projects, not all managers are neutral. At workplaces with cliques, 46% say their boss has a clique with some of his or her staff.
Workers with a specific persona in high school are more likely to be part of a clique. Those who described themselves as former athletes, class clowns and geeks are the most likely to be part of an office clique.
Also, 27% of employees who identify themselves as extroverts are more likely to be part of a clique compared with 17% of introverts.
And, just like in high school, employees have done things they didn’t want to do in order to try to fit in with the so-called cool kids.
Some of the activities they’ve taken part in, in order to fit in include going out for drinks after work, going for a smoke break, making fun of someone else or pretending not to like them, or watching a certain TV show or movie to talk about at the office the next day.
Even mature adults aren’t immune to peer pressure.
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