This survey says having friends at work makes you happier

This survey says having friends at work makes you happierThis survey says having friends at work makes you happierThe workplace is full of friends, from the lunch buddy to the happy-hour cohort to the guy from another department who always stops by for a 3 PM deskside chat. Having friends in the workplace influences employees feelings of wellbeing, motivation, and job satisfaction, payroll, and human resources, outsourcing firmPaychex found in an online survey of 1,001 full-time workers.Separate research has shown that work friends are good for you, as workplaces across the country have dealt with an epidemic of loneliness at work.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWhos the friendliest?So who tends to have the most friends at work? Baby Boomers especially men, who have, on average, 6.3 work buddies. (Theyre also the group most likely to stay at one employer throughout their career , giving them the chance to gestalt lasting bonds). People in management also have more work friends, possibly because theyve been there longer.Who needs more friends?Millennial women had the fewest work pals, at 3.5. That may be due to having jobs that are shorter in duration.Consultants and temporary workers also have fewer friends, probably because those jobs are by nature ephemeral, requiring them to move from place to place.According to the data, those who were satisfied with their job had 4.3 friends and those with just one fewer friends at 3.3 were dissatisfied.Friends inside and outside the officeTheres a friend overlap for a little over half of the people 54.9% said their personal friends knew their work friends.The most popular work-friend activity was eating lunch 83.3% of Baby Boomers do it, followed by similar percentages of in richtung Xers and Millennials.Next comes water-cooler chat about non-work chat. (You may want to stick to sports and TV and avoid these sens itive topics). 75% of Baby Boomers prefer this activity, with closely comparable percentages of Gen Xers and Millennials.And many like to get happy at Happy Hour, but Millennials more than most 32.1 for Boomers, 34.2% for Gen X, and 40.1% for Millennials.Hanging out on days off from work is the choice for 39% of Gen X and Millennials. Now thats the sign of a true work friend. (That said, here are some ways to set boundaries with your work friends, should you need to).Management approvesPeople working in management or human resources viewed workplace friendships highly, with 71% viewing them as positive, 4% viewing them as negative, and 25% saying they had no effect.I think workplace friendships are great, said one respondent, a mid-level manager in education. You spent more time at work than home, and happy employees perform better than unhappy employees. I also think you get more work done, and people work more together when they are friends and comfortable with each other.You mig ht also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people