HBR Women at Work Boxed Set (6 Books)

21

Stay Friends with Your Work BFF—Even After One of You Leaves

by Shasta Nelson

It can be painful when work friendships end not because they blow up or become disappointing but because of something far more innocent: One friend leaves the job.

While we may know on an intellectual level that the workplace won’t feel the same when our friend leaves, we usually believe the relationship will continue outside of work. It’s not until a few weeks or months later, when we no longer feel close to them, that we’re likely to feel hurt, take the silence personally, and assume the friendship didn’t mean as much to the other as we hoped it did.

That pain runs deep. So deep, in fact, that 30% of respondents in my 2019 Friendships in the Workplace Survey