Connections in the Workplace Aren’t Just a Nice Bonus. They’re a Competitive Advantage

In today’s hybrid and remote workplaces, office friendships are becoming increasingly rare. More problematic, the decline of these connections signals more than just a shift in workplace culture. It’s a serious challenge for employers. 

A recent Fast Company article describes the shift as such, “For centuries, work has been more than a paycheck. It’s been a space where people collaborate, forge meaningful bonds, and find belonging.” But today, that’s changing. Gallup research backs this up. Only 20 percent of U.S. employees report having a best friend at work. That number has been steadily declining, and it matters for everyone, company leaders and owners included. 

Strong friendships at work drive engagement, loyalty, psychological safety, and retention. Without these connections, companies struggle to build cohesive teams, sustain productivity, and create cultures where people want to stay. 

What does work when it comes to building meaningful bonds among employees? If leaders study environments where deep friendships tend to flourish—military units, dormitories, sports teams—they can reverse-engineer the key ingredients that reliably produce connection. They can also begin to rebuild the workplace as a place where people belong. 

Where deep friendships form and why 

Studies across social psychology and organizational behavior point to a set of high-trust environments where meaningful relationships form quickly and last for years. These include: 

1. Military units and boot camps
   Why it works: Shared risk, physical hardship, and team interdependence create rapid trust and lasting loyalty.
   Result: Many veterans describe lifelong bonds forged during service. 
2. College dormitories and campus living
   Why it works: Constant proximity and shared life transitions promote openness and frequent interaction.
   Result: Friends made in college often endure across decades and life stages. 
3. Sports teams and performing arts ensembles
   Why it works: Collective performance, emotional highs and lows, and shared goals strengthen interpersonal ties.
   Result: Teammates frequently report feeling like “family.” 
4. Religious small groups and faith communities
   Why it works: Shared values, vulnerability, and consistent rituals promote emotional intimacy and support.
   Result: Many people rely on these communities for lifelong friendship and belonging. 

What these environments have in common  

First, people spend a lot of time together. Frequent interaction creates familiarity and builds trust. Second, there’s a shared goal and sense of purpose that pulls people together and gives their effort meaning. Third, they go through challenges side by side. Facing stress, uncertainty, or pressure as a group creates a powerful sense of unity.  

Next, these environments make room for honesty. When people feel safe being themselves, real connection follows. Finally, there’s joy. Fun moments, shared jokes, and celebrations of success that strengthen bonds and leave lasting impressions. 

Taken together, these ingredients do more than build successful teams. They build lasting relationships, and there’s no reason they can’t exist at work. With intention and structure, companies can foster the same kind of connection and benefit from the trust, loyalty, and performance that come with it. 

Real friendships drive results  

Years ago, I worked with the Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines, with a workforce of more 50,000 unionized miners. The goal was simply to increase copper production to meet critical delivery targets and consequently raise cash to pay down a huge amount of debt. We identified five bottleneck operations and created improvement teams for each. Teams that achieved throughput improvements earned self-funded bonuses. 

Four of the five teams thrived. They collaborated, succeeded, and celebrated their bonuses together. One team failed, despite their best intentions. Why? Team size. At 2,000 members, it was simply too large to allow the trust, camaraderie, and proximity that fuel human motivation. The other, smaller teams had formed real friendships. That made the difference. 

A repeatable pattern for connection and performance 

Throughout the years, I’ve worked with hundreds more companies and a clear pattern for excellence emerged: 

• Gather input on key challenges including employee surveys 
• Align around a focus for improvement 
• Make progress transparent to everyone 
• Establish team-based, self-funded bonuses that reward measurable success 
• Celebrate wins together, publicly and meaningfully 
• Explore new areas of focus 
   

Sound familiar? It should. These steps align closely with the five drivers of economic engagement—a proven approach to increasing both productivity and connection. 

Economic engagement helps companies build stronger relationships and stronger results by making employees true stakeholders in the business. It turns hired hands into partners. Here’s how: 

1. Customer engagement connects owners and workers with the noble goal of serving customers by providing what customers value.  
2. Economic understanding aligns owners and workers with a common understanding of what defines success for the company.  
3. Economic transparency enables owners and workers to see how the company is doing and learn from successes and failures.  
4. Economic compensation gives owners and workers a shared stake in the results, making them economic partners in the company. 
5. Employee participation leads to lower turnover and better relationships between owners, managers, and employees.  

These five pillars generate engagement, profits, and friendship. As employees work side-by-side toward common goals with transparency and shared rewards, bonds naturally form. 

Want better results? Build better relationships 

The truth is that a workplace without connection is a workplace at risk of disengagement, turnover, and burnout. The solution isn’t a ping-pong table or a forced happy hour. Its structure, strategy, and shared ownership. Friendship, in this sense, isn’t just a nice bonus. It’s a competitive advantage. 

As Harvard Business Review noted, employees who have strong social connections at work are more productive, more resilient, and more loyal. Data from Gallup shows that those with a “best friend” at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their job. 

Leaders in the workplace have spent decades chasing productivity, engagement, and profitability. What they may have missed is more human. If your workplace is low on friendship, don’t settle. Rethink how your teams work together. Rethink how they share goals, risks, wins, and rewards. The best way to build it isn’t through perks or platitudes. It’s through economic engagement.