Office English / Socialising

Do you have friends at work?

People say don't mix business with pleasure.

Yeah, I definitely think it's possible to have good friends at work. I don't think just because they're your colleague means that you shouldn't become friends with them.

I guess it can become complicated if you get too close to someone or fall out with them, and then have to work with them.

Today on Office English, we're talking about socialising at work.

Hello and welcome to Office English, your podcast guide to the world of work. I'm Pippa.

And I'm Phil. Visit our website to find the transcript and subtitles for this episode and read along. That's bbclearningenglish.com.

So Phil, we just heard from our Learning English colleagues about having friends at work. What do we need to consider when we want to make friends at work?

Lots of this is down to the culture in your company or in your office. Um, it might also be about how you feel. Do you feel comfortable sharing lots of things with your work colleagues, or do you think your work and your personal life are things that are best kept separate?

Um, yeah. It can be really helpful to be friends with people at work because if you get on well with people, you're probably more likely to work well with them. But of course, there could be a disagreement. There could be a falling out between you and a friend, and that would make things more difficult. So you might want to think about how things might change over time as you become friends with someone.