Here’s something worth tucking away before you ever set foot in a workplace: one of the questions that best predicts whether someone loves their job isn’t about pay, or their boss, or even the work itself. It’s whether they have a best friend there.
Gallup — the research organization that’s been studying workplace behavior for decades — has consistently found that people with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs compared to those who don’t. Seven times. That’s not a small edge. That’s a completely different experience of going to work every day.
And it’s not just about feeling good at your desk. The research links having a work best friend to better health, more happiness, and real improvements in business outcomes — meaning people who have close work friendships actually perform better too.
But here’s the catch. Only about 2 in 10 American workers say they actually have a best friend at work — someone they can confide in about the personal side of life, not just swap tasks with. That’s a pretty lonely number.
So when you eventually land a job — even a first job, even a part-time one — don’t just keep your head down and grind. The person next to you might matter more to your long-term happiness than the job title itself.