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> When working at an office you tend to spend time with your coworkers outside of work Never experienced this. Is it really that common? I love my coworkers bu

• Kalium 7y ago
  It can vary greatly by age, location, and company culture. I have a bunch of 20-something coworkers who all hang out together. My coworkers in London can often be found together at the pub after work. That said, plenty of my older coworkers tend to go home immediately after work.
• cosmodisk 7y ago
  Depends on a country. In the UK, you are very likely to get a lot of social interactions after work aka the pub. In some, like France,I was told it's not really the case.
  • flurdy 7y ago
    Second this. Over the 15 years that I have worked in the UK, most of my best friends are ex-colleagues. I moved back for a while to my native Norway and worked 6 years there but there were nearly no social interactions with colleagues. Perhaps once a quarter you would go for a beer or pizza but very rarely. (Though some of the work organised sports events, lunchtime football, floorball, etc, was good.) I was relieved when we decided to move back to the UK and I could have a quick pint after work once or twice a week again. Some quick banter and gossip improve camaraderie and spirits a lot. Though as a parent it has to be a quick drink but still enough to bond. But also in the UK, it has been very different depending on if the office is located in the city centre or an office park. One of the many reasons why I try to avoid companies in an anonymous office park... Though now I am working mostly remotely in a tiny town where I know no one so I make an effort to occasionally jump on a train into London just to meet ex-colleagues for a drink for my social interactions (and possible contract networking...)
    • isostatic 7y ago
      The pint after work thing is a culture thing. In London and maybe. If cities where everyone gets the train in it isn’t unknown. For most in the country people drive to work, it seems rare to have after work pints.
• icebraining 7y ago
  In the EU countries where I've worked, coworkers usually shared some activities (e.g. weekly soccer matches). For some, especially parents, it's their main social schedule outside their home.
• notacoward 7y ago
  They don't have to be friends, but it does help to know people's specific interaction styles. Are they quick to voice an opinion, or hesitant? Do they play the "strong opinions loosely held" game? Which people will speak up in the group, which would prefer one on one, which will avoid one on one because of culture-specific gender or hierarchy rules? Which people are generally "progressive" early-adopter new-shiny types, which are "conservative" use-proven-technology types? Who welcomes new people? Who enjoys a bit of teasing banter, and who seems bemused genuinely hurt by it? A little light social interaction can answer all of these questions, and those answers can be very useful when interacting with them later in more structured and directly work-centered contexts.
• opportune 7y ago
  Not in my experience, and I've worked at a couple large US tech companies. I've had groups of friends who happen to work at the same place who I never interact with at work, but for actual people I work with, I'd say spending time with them outside of the work is reserved for once-every-couple-months happy hours.
• oarabbus_ 7y ago
  Yeah, I was surprised at how that was phrased at well. I've made friends at work who I have spent time with outside of work, but that's a select few group of people. I've definitely not experienced that one generally tends to spend time with coworkers outside of work. I think this could be more common in other industries like Finance where having drinks with people is essentially a job requirement.