Make life work is a bumper sticker that probably means that we should do everything to fill our lives up with work activities.
Not a smart idea.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is probably the best way to reduce personal stress and workplace stress.
But for some people, the workplace IS their life, their social life, their friendship circle and so on.
The question is - can being too social and too friendly at work be a problem? The answer is often - yes.
If you are a manager, for example, and one of your direct reports is a personal friend, problems can emerge when you have to evaluate that individual's work performance.
And if you have to allocate competitive bonuses, you could well create an inequity in your workplace, again causing stress and confusion.
There are two possible outcomes in this competitive bonus arena.
In the first place, you are so careful and objective and tough on your friend that your friend does not get the bonus to which they are entitled.
Alternatively, you have lost objectivity and your relationship has meant that you give your friend a larger bonus that is warranted.
This will be perceived very quickly by other team members that you supervise as unfair.
Workplace friendships in this supervisory case can be problematic and you have to be ultra careful in terms of your objectivity and vested interest in that person's performance and career.
But if you are not a manager, there are similar traps in being too sociable at work.
Friendship cliques can bring a work team to its knees and cause significant tension and work stress.
Spending too much time socializing at work is unfair to the employer and other employees.
While you are socializing, productivity is dropping and someone else is probably picking up the slack for you.
There is another level of social and interpersonal relationships that can be problematic too - romantic relationships at work.
If the relationship involves married couples engaged in affairs, everyone will suffer the stress.
If it is a flirtatious relationship, further tension arises.
Workplaces are notorious places for escalating interpersonal interest between employees.
If the relationship is fair, reasonable, and respectful, and if the parties are judicious and considerate, then little work stress is likely to manifest itself.
Keeping everything in balance in terms of person relationships at work is very important.
You are a professional.
You have obligations to your employer.
You are required to be fair and responsible.
When your personal relationships at work fail this test - you create workplace stress and work problems.
The test is - Is it fair, just, right, and professional?