We all strive to make the office a pleasant place to be in, after all we spend at least eight hours a day in it, five days in a week. That’s a significant amount of time, and it will even seem longer is we are not comfortable in our place of work. But is there such a thing as being too friendly?
What defines TMI (too much information) in the office? The tricky thing to note here is that when you get into an awkward situation with an officemate, such as when you accidentally spilled too much info, it can put a strain into your working relationship.
So where should you draw the line?
Giving all the details of your private life with your co-workers is not advisable. In the first place, they may not be interested, and also, they might find you unprofessional. Of course, it is a different case if you have become very good friends over the years. Even then, you should not talk about your personal situation in the office. If you must, do it outside work, outside office hours.
As a general rule, you should keep your personal relationships with your colleagues at an arm’s length. Because your primary function is to perform a certain task and not to socialize, getting too friendly may take away time you should be spending working, and instead use it for having long lunches and frequent coffee breaks.
Supervisors are also generally advised not to be too friendly with their staff. Giving a poker buddy a less than desirable performance rating may bring some strain to the relationship, and to the workplace.
Credit: Michal Marcol
No related posts.
