Work is where we give our best to recognize ourselves, the place where we get motivated to achieve the next step in a career. Work friendship is more like a family where we support each other and help in the upbringing and a pleasant environment we want. Is work friendship important? Yes, the people around you and the relationship you have with them will decide on the productivity. Productivity is high when we are in a better mindset. It was easier to meet people every day, discuss and work together in a challenging environment. In the current situation, we are worried about how do we maintain work friendship.

The pandemic situation has made sure everyone gets used to the technology and, the use of technology has increased by a thousand folds. Maintaining a work friendship is a challenge and a difficult task. Leaders have a crucial role to play in maintaining this within the company. We have listed a few points which can help you overcome the challenging situation:

Acknowledge the Importance of Friendship: As a leader, it is your responsibility to acknowledge the friendship and speak to your team member about how it has helped you. Also, discuss the importance of work friendship and the advantage of being together in the workplace and also outside the workplace. Employees are always understood better when you give examples. A real-life example would make a prominent impact on their mind.

Friendship Matchmaking: Every employee cannot be an extrovert, as some people stay alone and do not mingle with others. Kindly address the issue by conducting some games of friendship matchmaking that will help everyone to know each other and build a friendship. Nurturing the friendship to the next level is their task and, they would happily do once they are in the comfort zone.

Assign Two instead of One: Whenever you assign a task or a project to a particular employee focus on assigning a co-lead that will help them to work together and build the relationship. Employees would understand each other better when they spend time speaking and working with each other.

We should always remember that we are social beings. Ignoring friendship is going against the law of nature. The current situation has led us to focus on friendship, similar to a long-distance relationship, where we will get hurdles and difficult times but, we can always overcome the same with our understanding and the bonding. Having a training session on relationships and handling personal life is as important as we schedule the weekly work meeting.