WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER: Should Managers Nurture Co-Worker Friendships?

Employers, who want to encourage creativity with their employees, should nurture friendships between co-workers.

University of Bath researchers found care from a co-worker inspires people to be supportive to their partner at home, showing that co-workers have a significant role to play, when it comes to enabling couples to cope with balancing the demands of work and family life – which have changed so dramatically, in recent years.

This also has benefits for creative thinking at work.

Researcher Yasin Rofcanin says, “While we’re not suggesting employers should meddle in relationships, they may be able to positively contribute to the quality of relationships at home by putting policies and procedures in place to minimize work-family conflict, such as limiting over time and expectations to emails outside of work.”

Still, researchers acknowledge that there could be drawbacks to relying on co-workers for support, with home and family matters… with partners at home possibly feeling jealous or upset about the closeness of ‘work spouse’ relationships, and such.  They suggest more research look into these potential conflicts.

Find more support, here:  (EurekAlert!)