According to a recent article in New York Times, a new study says that making friends with your cubemates is beneficial to your health. Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center studied data collected from more than 24,000 Canadian workers in 2002 and discovered that men and women who felt they could lean on office friends for support during times of stress were two to three times less likely to suffer major bouts of depression than their coworkers who didn't have the same kind of support system.
Emma Robertson Blackmore, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester, feels these relationships are so crucial because work friends get where you're coming from, whereas your friends and family don't have the same level of understanding.
Dear's Advice: Although being chummy at work might be frowned upon by your boss, it's better for your emotional and physical wellbeing to develop relationships with those who share your grievances.
by Terry
Anthony Peto
Fornarina
I found that article too...and it's so true that having friends at work is so important because they are going through the same things you are. They understand the pressures at work so much better than family or your friends outside the job. It's like forming an alliance as well as an emotional bond.
1University of Rochester! That's my alma mater! My major was Brain and Cognitive Sciences, though. haha i have nothing to add to this, just that I'm proud of my school
2Interesting...
3I don't like being too close with my co-workers, but I could see how this works.
Who's the guy in the picture with the brown shirt?? Can I be friends with him??? lol
4isn't it "beneficial" ?
5LOL, K8!...You are correct. Dear's spell check must be on strike. It happens to the best of us, right Dear?
I met my two closest girlfriends started at work. They are two great gals. The three of us have completely different personalities, but somehow it works.
I think you have to go into it with an open mind, but trust your instincts. There are some catty back-stabbing wenches (and guys) out there in the work place!
6can i just be friends with that teal-shirted guy? he looks like he's fun to be around lol!
what a cheese-tastic picture!
but this is good to know since i have a lot of work friends. in fact, we all just started a dinner club and went out last night!
they really are great to hang out with and it makes work much more pleasant when you know you
can look forward to working with smart and friendly co-workers. it helps that we're all around the same age and we're all women.
7hahaha I love teal-shirted guy... I wish he was my BFF... he looks like a good time all around... a jolly little fellow
8P.S. doesn't it look like those 3 guys are all creeping on that one girl? They're all staring at her so intently...Poor girl...lol
9It depends on where you work really. I would think that the Sugar offices are a great place to mingle and make friends. My office? not so much, I have a rule about making friends here and its not to go beyond a professional interaction. I have found in the past that if i did go out to lunches, or for drinks, or to a house for holiday parties, i would put myself in the position to where they thought that my personal life was thier business, and its not.
10To go along with my above mentioned opinion
True Story: I was having problems in my marriage, which was very upsetting to me of course, my hubby and I were working through it but I was distracted at work, getting my job done, but just not being social. I am really accident prone, I am talking if there is a room the size of a football stadium with one tiny table in it, I will stub my toe on the legs. So I have bruises. One lady I work with, who I had lunches with and with whom I socialized with decided that I was being beaten (I think she watched too much Lifetime) anyway, she CALLED MY MOTHER!!! I was at the time 32 years old, she knew my moms name and called her. All heck broke loose because my mom can get overly emotional at times, so I had to explain that I wasn’t abused, and by that time the whole office knew about my batterer husband……I swear they all still think I was covering for him.
That moment on….no more office friends. Work is work.
11Just like an office romance you have to pick and choose your office friends. I am also very private and the people I have become friends with are also very private. I work for a company that is a giant fraternity/sorority and I can't handle spending all week with work people than go out with them on the weekends. Yuck! I like the people that are in my small work friend circle.
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