In recent decades, mastering comunication communication and social skills have become increasingly crucial among professionals. While some argue that co-workers should socialise out of their work hours, others believe that it is vital that professionals do not integrate their personal lives with their professional lives. I subscribe to the latter viewpoint.
Some people may claim that socializing with colleagues out of work time increases productivity at work; because once they are involved in social activities, they are more likely to develop a broad understanding of each other’s characters, leading to a better performance. Admittedly, they develop deeper connections, leading to better collaboration at work. However, at the times of crisis or promotion, envy and jealousy may arise, leading to serious conflicts, which negatively impacts the workforce. For example, the IUA institute in the US conducted research in 2021 on employees of five capital corporations, for investigating to investigate the correlation between of the productivity to and employees’ socialization. The institute reported that employees that were engaged in social events together encountered more complications with each other than those who distinguished their private lives with their career lives.
On ther other hand, some critics rightly advocate the separation of personal life with from professional life. Such separation will increase the staff’s focus while at work. Moreover, It avoids conflicts and intimidations among employees. This is because if employees know unnecessary details about each other’s private lives, they might take advantage of each other later on. Such conflicts may occur due to the competitive nature of work environments. Once collaborators at companies develop emotional connections through social activities, they are more likely not to follow professional manners at work, creating tensions, especially for job promotions that two parties are equally eligible for. For instance, a Romanian statistics center declared that 95% of employees who isolated their privacy from work lives performed far better at work than those who did not.
To sum up, although it might seem that encouraging co-workers to participate in social gatherings together out of work period can be a good idea, I believe such socialization is unnecessary. It can trigger envy or jealousy among these individuals at the promotions moments and it causes complications and derails the professional work ethics from its their path. I would suggest that professionals do to not mix their personal lives with their professional lives.
