Employees are ten times more likely to stay in a job due to friendships in the office over a pay rise.
Research from Eko found that 31 per cent of employees would stay in a job due to friendships compared to 3 per cent staying in a job due to a pay rise.
It was also found that millennials value friendship over any other work group and women place greater value on relationships than men.
Staff working in the Food & Beverage businesses such as restaurants, bars, hotels and catering valued friendships at work the most, closely followed by those working in the legal sector, education and also retail businesses.
The second most popular reason not to leave a job is flexible or remote working (25 per cent), with 25-44 year-olds valuing this the most compared to other age groups.
Robert Darling, chief operating officer (COO) at Eko, said:
It’s clear that the friendships people form in the workplace today are instrumental to employers in building happy and committed teams that are more likely to stay put. It’s also important for employers to recognise what people really value today and what makes them feel valued.
People want to feel united as part of a team, to feel like they make a difference to those around them and this comes back to the importance of culture. Real culture is natural, it’s part of what makes us human and it’s certainly something that employers should be looking to invest more in and nurture over the next few years.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, spending time with family and enjoying greater flexibility in terms of office based hours, continues to be high up the agenda for most workers as does their general wellbeing and the opportunity for progression and development. For businesses there is much more to do in terms of boosting retention, but it would seem that investment in workplace culture is still a number one priority
These results are based on a Censuswide, a market research company, survey which asked UK 1,015 workers.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.