Workplace Friendships Debate

It's clearly very hard for folks who have come to rely upon their workplace as their venue for social interaction, and their co-worker pool as their source for social relationships. But to be clear, once upon a time (back in the long long ago), it was seen as unhealthy to mix your work relationships and your personal friendships. So it's possible for all of us to learn how to develop relationships and friendships that don't rely upon the forced proximity of an office. Things like

I think most "friendships" with people you work with feel like this. Try spending time with people you don't work with.

This is a false dichotomy. There is value in the normal social interactions of a workplace even if they don't become lifetime friends. Seeing people during the day, small talk, having relationships come and go - these are healthy and enjoyable things even if they never get deeper.

Coworkers might not be your family, but it doesn't mean you can't be friends. Some of the people I'm closest to I met at work, however to ensure our interactions aren't constrained to the workplace, we've made deliberate attempts to meet up outside of the office.

I have a hard time grasping this.. Work is not for socializing.. work is for work.I don't go to work to find my SO or my best friend, I get to do that in my own time.In addition, bonding a close, personal relationship with your co-workers lead into problems, office drama is not pleasant and can have severe consequences.I think it would be healthy to simply maintain a professional relationship which ends at 5pm.Different personalities I suppose..

Seems totally normal to me. In the past people would have come into work with this attitude predominantly I think. Work is a place you work to have money to live your life. For better or worse that norm changed a bit, but I think more and more people seek it out as they get tired of all the meaningless, only semi-voluntary socialising they have to do for work.If you're in a place that allows this kind of interaction, then I'd say cherish it. It's far from the only one, but lots

I find my older coworkers have more friends at work, simply because its the people outside thier family they see every day. I am friends with zero coworkers but also can spend my evenings out with friends - I don't have familial duties

I think it's important to make the distinction that while you can be friends with your colleagues it's very important to also have friends outside of work. Having friends from work is great, but if you only have friends from work then you have nothing outside of work which isn't healthy (for example, if things start going poorly at work then it can feel like you are trapped).

Some people (perhaps a lot, even) are also friends with their coworkers, which seems preferable to working with people you are not friends with.

The reality is outside of work you pick your friends. At work, you're placed on a team with other people and you have no choice but to work with them. Sometimes they're great, but sometimes they're people you want nothing to do with, but they're on your team so you suck it up and make it work to the extent required by the job.Over my career I've both worked with people that I've voluntarily kept in touch with after our time together ended (we even occasionally fl