By LEANNE ITALIE
NEW YORK — Crystal Powers began a new job remotely in February 2022 as a medical records supervisor. She has yet to meet two of the five people who report to her in person and has found it challenging to bond with her fellow managers online.
“I was used to that face-to-face of going into people’s cubicles and talking with them one-on-one. It just doesn’t translate as well to a remote environment,” said the 42-year-old Powers, who lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Just 2 in 10 adult U.S. employees say they definitely have a “best friend” at work, according to a quarterly Gallup survey done in June 2022. The percentage under age 35 dropped by 3 points when compared to pre-pandemic 2019, to 21% from 24%, said Gallup workplace and well-being researcher Jim Harter. There was no such change for workers 35 and up, he said.
Having a best friend at work has become even more important since the dramatic rise in remote and hybrid employment, Harter said.
“We’re seeing in the data that younger people in general are feeling more disconnected from their workplaces,” he said. “You can attribute some of that potentially to remote work. If they’re less connected to their workplace, they have fewer opportunities to connect with other colleagues and to develop those kinds of friendships that they might have had in the past.”
For many employees during the pandemic, particularly parents, educators and frontline workers, such friendships offered social and emotional support at a critical time, Gallup said.
They also benefited employers. Gallup found a strong link between workers with best friends on the job and profitability, safety, inventory control and retention.
Employees who have a bestie at work are significantly more likely to engage customers and internal partners, get more done in less time, support a safe workplace with fewer accidents, and innovate and share ideas, according to the research.
Karen Piatt started a new job with a…
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