Bosses, Coworkers, and Building Great Work Relationships (HBR Work Smart Series)

13 What to Do When You Become Your Friend’s Boss

by Ben Laker, Charmi Patel, Ashish Malik, and Pawan Budhwar

How many hours will you spend with your coworkers over the course of your lifetime? If your job is a typical 9-to-5, that means you’ll spend around eight hours a day, five days a week, for roughly 40 years, with the various people you work with. That equates to almost 90,000 hours total. So, a very long time.

Understandably, it would only make sense for some of these connections to blossom into something more personal, like friendships. And that’s a good thing, because having friends at work has been proven to increase job satisfaction, performance, and even productivity.

But there is a flip side. Close friendships also have the potential ...