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Friends at work
工作中的朋友
Why it is a bad idea for managers to attempt to engineer office friendships.
为什么经理们试图策划办公室友谊不是一个好主意。
Scholars of happiness have found that close relationships are one of the critical ingredients of a contented life. What is true in general is also true of the workplace, according to research by Gallup.
研究幸福的学者发现，亲密关系是生活美满的关键因素之一。盖洛普的研究显示，这一普遍法则也适用于职场。
The pollster finds that having a “best friend at work” is closely associated with all manner of good things, from greater employee engagement to higher retention and better safety records.
这家民调机构发现，拥有“工作中的密友”与各种益处密切相关，包括更高的员工参与度、更高的留任率和更好的安全记录。
At some level, that is unremarkable. Spending time with people you like makes most things more appealing, including work. If a job is sufficiently humdrum, camaraderie among colleagues can be the main draw.
在某种程度上，这并不令人惊奇。和喜欢的人待在一起会让大多数事情变得更有意思，包括工作。如果一份工作已经足够乏味，那么同事之间的情谊可能是工作的主要吸引力。
The support of friends can also encourage people to try new things. A study from 2015 by Erica Field of Duke University, and her co-authors, looked at the impact of business training given to Indian women.
朋友的支持也可以鼓励人们尝试新事物。杜克大学的埃里卡·菲尔德和她的合著者在2015年进行了一项研究，考察了印度女性接受商业培训的影响。
Women who attended the course with a friend were more likely to end up taking out loans than those who came alone. The reverse also applies.
与朋友一起参加课程的女性比独自来听课的女性更有可能去借商业贷款。反之亦然。
Antagonistic relationships with co-workers are always likely to make working life miserable. A study conducted by Valerie Good of Grand Valley State University found that loneliness has an adverse effect on the performance of salespeople.
与同事的敌对关系总是可能让职场生活变得痛苦。大峡谷州立大学的瓦莱丽·古德进行的一项研究发现，孤独对销售人员的业绩有不利影响。
Among other things, they start spending more on wining and dining their customers. The only thing worse than a salesperson who sees you as a way to make money is one who wants your company.
除了其他方面的不利影响，他们还开始在和客户吃饭方面花更多钱。比销售人员想要你的钱更糟糕的，就是这个销售还想要你陪他。
So friends matter. The problems come when managers see the words “higher employee engagement” and leap to the conclusion that they should try to engineer work friendships.
所以朋友很重要。当经理们看到“员工参与度更高”的字眼，并立刻推导出他们应该策划工作中的友谊时，问题就来了。
In a report published last year Gallup gave the example of an unnamed organisation which has a weekly company-wide meeting that spotlights one employee’s best friend at work.
在去年发布的一份报告中，盖洛普举了一个匿名组织的例子，该组织每周召开一次公司全体会议，重点关注某一名员工在工作中最好的朋友。
It’s not known if, in the Q&A, others pop up to sob: “But I thought we were best friends at work.” Startups also offer services to encourage work friendships. One monitors the depth of connections between people in different teams.
目前还不清楚在问答环节，是否会有其他人突然哭起来，说：“我还以为我们才是工作中最好的朋友。”初创公司也提供服务来促进职场友谊。一种服务是监测不同团队中人员之间的联系深度。
It identifies shared interests (gluten-free baking, say, or workplace surveillance) between employees who don’t know each other and arranges meetings between them. You thought life was bad? At least you are not making crumpets with a stranger in finance.
它能识别互不认识的员工之间的共同兴趣(比如无麸质烘焙或工作监控)，并安排他们进行聚会。你觉得生活很糟糕？但至少你不需要和财务科的一个陌生人一起做烤面饼。
