Employees crave companionship a lot, in truth, survey outcomes revealed Tuesday from audit, tax, and advisory agency KPMG present 57% would select a task with a wage 10% beneath market worth to work with associates over a job with a wage 10% over market with out shut friendships.
This “friendship premium” successfully values office relationships at 20% of somebody’s wage, in accordance with KPMG.
In the meantime, 45% of individuals reported emotions of loneliness within the office, up almost double from KPMG’s Associates at Work report from final yr. And 81% of employees think about having office relationships as “critically necessary.”
This yr, KPMG surveyed 1,019 full-time workers in regards to the relative significance of wage, associates at work, work-life steadiness, studying alternatives, firm tradition, and the way expertise shapes worker experiences.
KPMG’s determination to discover office friendships was pushed by the rising recognition that human connection is crucial to enterprise success, Sandy Torchia, KPMG U.S. vice chair of expertise and tradition, instructed Fortune.
“Our [2024] survey revealed that office friendships are an undervalued answer for addressing points reminiscent of loneliness, burnout and disengagement—challenges more and more evident in right this moment’s workforce,” she stated. “Our [2025] survey signifies that these points not solely persist however have gotten much more prevalent.”
The worth of friendships at work
Kelsey Szamet, a office lawyer with Encino, Calif.-based Kingsley Szamet Employment Attorneys, instructed Fortune it’s no surprise some workers would select decrease pay to work with associates.
Primarily based on her work with purchasers, “a heat organizational tradition will usually rank increased for workers in comparison with easy financial pay,” Szamet stated. “Working in an environment of belief and friendship can result in higher dedication and staying longer with one firm even when salaries are usually not on the stratospheric ranges for one’s experience.”
Erin Eatough, cofounder and chief science officer at advisory agency Fractional Insights, instructed Fortune this development displays a bigger redefinition of worth at work.
“Persons are now not simply optimizing for revenue—they’re optimizing for which means, progress, and connection,” stated Eatough, who makes use of psychological science whereas consulting Fortune 500 leaders. She earned her Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology from the College of South Florida.
“We see this in our diagnostics,” she continued. “Employees are more and more searching for environments the place they really feel protected, related, and revered. Friendship is usually essentially the most human expression of a tradition that has gotten it proper.”
A latest Fractional Insights survey additionally confirmed greater than 50% of workers really feel they must “consistently look out for themselves at work.”
“That type of continual self-protection indicators a breakdown of belief and belonging and it erodes motivation and innovation over time,” Eatough added. “Office friendships can act as a buffer in opposition to the loneliness epidemic.”
In the meantime, office friendships usually transcend superficial connections. Associates can function assist methods at necessary occasions like when an worker faces discrimination, harassment, or retaliation Szamet stated.
Generational breakdown and AI friendships
KPMG’s survey outcomes discovered Gen Z values office friendships essentially the most out of all teams. Two-thirds of Gen Z would select a task with the friendship premium, adopted by 58% for child boomers, 57% of millennials, and 55% of Gen Xers.
Whereas friendships are helpful throughout all generations, youthful employees rely extra closely on work associates to navigate psychological well being and burnout, Torchia stated. They’re additionally extra more likely to view their work associates as “social connectors” and “confidants,” she added.
AI has additionally change into a supply of companionship—for higher or for worse—for some employees. Whereas 99% of employees reported they’re concerned with an AI chatbot that might change into a buddy or trusted work companion, in accordance with KPMG, 49% stated the expertise creates false connections and replaces deep conversations with superficial interactions. Torchia calls this the “nice AI paradox.”
AI “can function a instrument to assist alleviate loneliness whereas additionally amplifying our starvation for genuine relationships,” she stated. “The organizations profitable are these leveraging rising expertise like AI to create extra significant human interactions, not fewer.”
Eatough stated the extra we automate, the extra treasured and highly effective human connections change into.
“If we’re not cautious, we danger designing sterile, extractive workplaces in pursuit of effectivity,” she stated. However inserting people on the forefront of efficiency administration, communication, and rewards can “create environments the place each AI and genuine connection thrive facet by facet.”
