Work is stressful, even for people who love their jobs and what they do for a living.
Tight deadlines, equipment malfunctions and workloads that have been increased due to recession-induced layoffs all contribute to workplace stress.
Having people around who not only understand, but also share some of the burden can actually help employees to feel less stressed overall.
In his article, Sharing the Problem, Michael O'Brien cites a Canadian Community Health Survey that found that social interaction at work is essential to employee satisfaction and productivity.
Just think about the last time you were working to complete a project with people you liked being around.
Didn't it seem to make the day go by faster? And consider a time when a printer or fax machine wasn't working properly and you had to ask someone for help.
Imagine how it would feel to have to ask for help in a hostile or unsupportive work environment.
A person doesn't have to be the victim of workplace bullying to feel stressed about going in to work each day.
That's why employers are as concerned about finding candidates who will not only be competent at their jobs, but able to fit into the department or company culture.
Work isn't only stressful for employees who feel disliked or unwanted, it's also stressful for those who feel animosity toward one or more of their coworkers.
Nothing hurts morale and productivity more than a negative work environment.
It's important for feelings of animus to be addressed quickly; negative feelings are just as contagious as positive ones and an unattentive supervisor or manager could soon find himself with an office full of unhappy, unproductive employees.
Understandably, most employers don't like to encourage a great deal of socializing during business hours; however, encourage their employees to socialize during breaks, at lunch time, after work and during company gatherings could help employees to get to know each other better, says O'Brien.
The fact that a lot of offices have break rooms or small kitchens facilitates employee interaction during breaks, lunch hours, and at the beginning or end of their work days.
Once when I worked in a call center environment, I was part of a team.
We trained together first, then when we began working with customers, we took lunch en masse.
This made it easy for people with similar interests or backgrounds to socialize during lunch; the get-to-know-each-other activities we participated in during training, helped those people to identify each other early on.
Stress in the workplace not only hurts morale and lowers productivity - both very important ingredients for any business to be successful - but prolonged stress can cause physical illness.
People who work in friendly, welcoming work environments are more productive and better able to cope with day-to-day stressors like faulty office equipment, heavy workloads or short deadlines.
So, maybe instead of trying stifle all social interaction among their employees, managers and supervisors should try, instead, to encourage their employees to socialize at more appropriate times and in more appropriate places.
It could literally pay off for them.