Those who find a friend  find a treasure ... and become more productive.

In addition to the talk in front of a coffee or in the breaks of a meeting there can be much more: sincere friendship, very different from the more superficial relationship of collaboration between colleagues.

The motto that those who find a friend find a treasure is also valid between the desks of the office, and not only for the most easily understood reasons. Certainly good relationships make the hours of the working day more pleasant and affect the general quality of life, but mutual complicity and esteem between people belonging to a team also generate other effects.

We work better in every sense: with a friend at our side (or at the other end of the phone and or in the mailbox) we are happier and more productive.

The US consultancy firm Gallup is convinced of this, which has gathered countless testimonies about it in decades of activity.

So much so that the question "Who is your best friend?" Is always present in the lineup during advice to managers. The Gallup experts tell us that only two out of ten professionals in the United States count their "best friend" among their colleagues or collaborators, and it is a pity that this is the case.

If companies favored the birth of these bonds (bringing to six professionals out of ten the statistics) they would get an average increase in turnover of 12% and would reduce security incidents by more than a third (36%).

The reason is that friendship stimulates productivity, involvement, trust, creativity and the desire to collaborate.

No need to disturb sociology to realize it: the sense of affiliation to a group leads to reasoning in less individualistic terms. According to Gallup, those who are close friends with one or more colleagues are inclined to do more things and spend more on common goals. Mutual respect is a reason for fulfillment, while knowing that one can trust each other suggests that people can risk more even in professional activity.

But friendship is not born by snapping fingers. Of course it is a matter of character compatibility and common interests, but it also needs fertile ground and opportunities. Here are some tips.

Create a favorable corporate culture

Annamarie Mann, Gallup's Employee Engagement and Wellbeing Practice Manager, meets "directors and managers who frown in front of the chat and lunch breaks in company, seeing friendship at work as an obstacle to productivity". The facts show, instead, that it is exactly the opposite.

Promote communication and collaboration

Invite everyone to express their opinion, do not silence dissenting voices, let the ideas circulate freely within the working group. By reinforcing trust and a sense of participation in your collaborators, you will create a climate conducive to the creation of friendships.

Create the opportunity

The most varied team building activities are useful, from yoga classes to evenings at the pub, to conventions dedicated to employees. But it is important to give space to conviviality and dialogue, even within places and hours of work, for example by structuring the lunch break in a certain way or by providing sports and recreational activities in the company's weekly calendar.

Do not stay aloof

Leaders often promote worldly events, courses, group activities, but remain at a safe distance. A corporate culture inclined to friendship, on the other hand, must start from the top. Be careful, however, not to water down the hierarchical boundaries, losing authority: the active participation of managers in social occasions must respect a well-defined etiquette and in line with the role of responsibility held.

Friendship among colleagues not only improves mood and quality of life, but gives the business an edge. "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me," said industrialist Henry Ford. And getting the best out of us at work means being open, collaborative, creative, efficient. The happier the employee, the happier the company.