Friendship among employees can yield several benefits for employers, including supporting their attraction and retention strategies, according to a new survey by the Harris Poll on behalf of Express Services Inc.
The survey, which polled more than 500 Canadian employees and more than 500 employers, found more than eight in 10 (85 per cent) employers believe employees are more likely to stay with a company if they have friends in the workplace, with more than a third (35 per cent) strongly agreeing.
Employers and employees agreed on several benefits of workplace friendships, including improvements to employee and company productivity (65 per cent of employers compared to 49 per cent of employees), employee morale (54 per cent versus 43 per cent), employee mental health (50 per cent each) as well as reduced turnover (41 per cent versus 39 per cent) and interpersonal conflicts (40 per cent versus 47 per cent).
Read: Just 20% of U.S. employees say they have a best friend at work: survey
Three-quarters (77 per cent) of employers said it’s easy for employees to make friends at work and 82 per cent said they actively encourage employees to develop friendships through lunch events (46 per cent), by encouraging meetings among peers/those at the same job level (34 per cent), company retreats/get-togethers (32 per cent), mentorship programs (30 per cent) and happy hours (27 per cent).
More than three-quarters of employees (78 per cent) said they’d be more likely to stay with a company if they have friendships in the workplace. Around two-thirds (64 per cent) said they’ve stayed at a job longer than intended because of their friendships at work while a third (32 per cent) have left a job because they were not able to form friendships at work.
More than half (55 per cent) of employees said they couldn’t get through a workday without the friendships they’ve formed and half (49 per cent) said they’re worried about being able to form friendships at their next company.
Generation Z employees (75 per cent) are more likely to say they’ve stayed at a job longer than intended due to a workplace friendship, compared to millennials (65 per cent), generation X (61 per cent) and baby boomers (50 per cent).
Read: Survey finds perceptions of workplace culture impacting employees’ mental health
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