On Friendship at Work

There is a Quaker proverb that has stayed with me across more than four decades as an occupational therapist: “Thee lift me, and I'll lift thee, and we’ll ascend together.” It captures something I have experienced: the good fortune of working alongside colleagues who, over time, became friends. The colleague whose name appears in your inbox on a difficult morning, and the mentor whose encouragement still sustains you, are not luxuries of professional life. They are among its essential supports. Friendship is not incidental to work. It may be one of its most consequential dimensions.¹

Workplace friendship has been defined as a voluntary, informal, and mutually supportive relationship that develops among colleagues. It has been associated with improved well-being, lower stress, greater job satisfaction, stronger organizational commitment, and better performance, as well as higher engagement, lower turnover intention, and greater resilience under pressure. Friends at work offer emotional support, practical knowledge, and a buffer against the everyday discourtesies that can wear us down. When someone notices that we are tired or pauses to ask how we are really doing, the work experience can shift in meaningful ways. ¹

Workplace friendship is not without complexity. When a friend is also a coworker, role expectations can overlap, creating tension between the social and professional dimensions of the relationship. Under some conditions, this can contribute to resource depletion, inter-role conflict, or spillover effects. Close friendships at work can also raise legitimate concerns about favoritism, inequity, or exclusion. ² None of this diminishes the value of these relationships; rather, it underscores the importance of cultivating workplace cultures in which friendships can flourish alongside fairness and self-awareness.

Age adds another layer.^3,4 Workplace friendships may be shaped by both accumulated tenure and one's sense of how much future time remains in an organization. As we grow older, these friendships may become especially meaningful, anchoring identity, providing continuity, and sustaining a sense of purpose. In multigenerational workplaces, cross-age friendships may also strengthen cooperation, deepen a sense of belonging, and enrich job satisfaction. This is something I am experiencing firsthand.

I founded this journal more than three decades ago with the conviction that work deserved a dedicated scholarly home. Over the years, WORK has been shaped not only by the papers we have published but also by the relationships formed around them: authors, reviewers, editorial board members, the editor's assistants, and publishers who became friends. I am grateful for every one of them. I invite you to reflect on what friendship at work means in your own professional life and to consider who has helped lift you along the way.

I am pleased to share the Editor's Choice paper for this issue: Unpacking Women's Worries About Leadership: The Interplay of Perceived Sexism and Organizational Support by Berru Ayse Yilmaz, Selin Metin Camgoz, and Irem Metin-Orta. Congratulations to these authors for their insightful research.

I hope you are enjoying our Learn at WORK podcast. I especially encourage you to listen to the episode Life as an Editor's Assistant featuring WORK's editor assistant, Lindsey Sousa, at:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3bhhmr1K0Q14V7KYkG1Iah?si = 6UUuJm73Qqu9EvjmYPYcPA

My gratitude to Morgan Miller for producing the Learn at WORK podcast.

As always, I welcome hearing from you.

All my best,

Karen

Founding Editor-in-Chief, WORK Occupational therapist & ergonomist kjacobs@bu.edu profiles.bu.edu/Karen.Jacobs linkedin.com/in/karenjacobsot