Healthy Relationships

Work

Coworkers

Relationships with coworkers can be tricky: people who are friends with coworkers tend to perform better at work but they also report being more emotionally exhausted and having difficulty maintaining their friendships.

• 12% of employees’ closest ties were with people from their professional life.
• 19% of employees surveyed have a [what they would consider] a significant relationship with a coworker.
• 700%: People who have a “best friend at work” are not only more likely to be happier and healthier… they are also seven times as likely to be engaged in their job. 

More About Coworkers

A JobSage study concluded:

• 95% of surveyed respondents say having a friend at work makes them happier.
• 92% say friendships at work impact their willingness to stay at a company.
• Despite the positive impact of workplace friendships, one in five Americans have no friends at work and remote workers report having 33% fewer workplace friends.
• Millennials (39%) and Gen Z (21%) are the generations most likely to have no friends at work.
• Despite the challenges of remote work friendships, one in four people have made a work friend they’ve never met in person.

Culture Plays a Role in our Relationships with Coworkers

• While only less than 6% of American coworkers have taken a coworker along on vacation…
• 25% of Poles (coworkers in Poland)… and 50% of Indians (coworkers in India) have vacationed with a colleague…

Partners/Spouses

• Based on Julie and John Gottman’s research, a minimum of six hours per week helps foster and maintain connection in our [intimate] relationships.
• Daily rituals in parting and reunion may seem small/insignificant, but they can be VERY significant in bolstering our connection with our partners. Consider the following:
  • Partings: saying goodbye in the morning before work should take at least two minutes per day.
  • Reunions: when we come back together at the end of a workday, give this 20 minutes and include a hug, a kiss, as well as a stress-reducing conversation. This ritual has been shown to build appreciation between you & your partner, add to your “emotional bank account”, and reduce cortisol and boost oxytocin.

Children/Parenting

• In the U.S., the average amount of time university-educated, working moms & dads spend with their children = 120 minutes/day and 85 minutes/day, respectively.