Hey bros,
In a time when so many of us spend more hours at work than we do at home, it’s not surprising that you might meet other bros on the job who you feel you can be good buddies with. And unlike a romance, it’s not considered a land mine by your HR people. On the contrary, they’re happy about employees forming platonic friendships. It helps team spirit, among other things. Still, there are a few things you have to pay attention to.
1. Don’t get TOO close to your boss or your subordinates. If you’re in a friendship where people think that you are using (or being used by) someone else to get professional benefits, it undermines your trust with the rest of the people in the office. Not only that, but the extra problems can get a lot bigger if one of you decides to break it off. The best kind of workplace bro is a dude who can’t do anything to you or for you in his professional capacity. The same thing should be true of you from his perspective.
2. Be careful what you say to your office bro. The safest thing for you is to stick only to stuff that you wouldn’t mind him repeating to anyone else, even a news reporter. Don’t ask him to keep something confidential at work, even if you trust him completely, because he could always end up in a situation where he has to repeat what you said. It’s not fair to put a bro in that kind of a no-win situation.
3. And finally, make sure you have other stuff in common with your bro besides the office. Get to know the other friends in his life, and introduce him to yours.
Good luck!
-The Blog Dude
