Meaning of Co-Employee Bonds and When to Limit Them?

Working environment is quite drastic at times, owing to the fact that people from different race, religions and beliefs, are joining together with you, under one roof, to work on the same targets and projects as you. In a work place environment, these people will come to be recognised as your co-workers and working together with them, makes you come close to them in different capacities, forming co-employee bonds between you and your co-workers.

Although, a co-working environment recognises the need to have a positive atmosphere, where people can join together and putting aside, their variations, work in a united manner for the development of the company, it does not necessarily mean that co-employee bonds are an absolute must. Since human relations are mostly a matter of personal understanding and manifestation, there cannot be any well defined boundaries to those relations. Even the slightest possibility of attempting to cast a physical quantity to those relations is not possible. So, what exactly are these so called co-employee bonds and what should be their boundary? Let’s find out. 

Meaning of Co-workers and the meaning of having a boundary

Your co-workers are the human aspect that you have to interact with, on a daily basis, in order to accomplish the tasks at hand, pertaining to the objects of the organisation. Even if not that, as a basic human need, you would need to or even feel compelled to interact with the people around you, if you are to spend over eight hours in a day, in their midst. It automatically follows that you will have co-workers in your working environment, with whom, you would wish to interact on a daily basis. 

Owing to the nature of human conversations and mode of interactions, many co-workers tend to develop certain bonds between themselves. As already told, it is not possible to quantify or define the boundaries of human interactions. These interactions and bonds are bound to develop into friendship and sometimes beyond that too. Although, as long as the two people involved in such interactions, are mature enough to understand and maintain their boundaries, for the peace and formal conduct of their work place, it is not an issue to be comprehended. However, when such bonding becomes overbearing for the formal conduct of organisational activities, it should be stopped and controlled. This is said mostly because, once two humans get themselves involved in a relationship above friendship, people around them, start considering them in an informal manner and somewhere down the line, this attitude tends to hamper the formal conduct of activities in the organisation. 

For this simple reason, when it comes to having a bond with a co-worker in your office, it is always advisable to avoid forming too deep bonds and if that cannot be avoided, then it is best to keep a distinction between personal and professional life. 

Co-worker bonds: Why is it necessary to limit them?

While you may feel an obvious and natural instinct to develop bonds of friendship with the co-workers around you, it may not always be a healthy choice. For one, knowing what people are for real, is not possible, without knowing them from a long time. Remember that in a work place, people can put on a fake or double face to attract your attention or else get their purpose solved. This makes the prospect of even forming friendships, quite vulnerable for your emotional safety. 

Moreover, there may be many colleagues in your work place, who might wish to take favours from you in the form of physical intimacy, in exchange for promotions, salary hikes and perks. At times, these favours may manifest themselves in unspoken forms, such as casual touch, flings and more. As a worker, it is your duty and need to recognise signs of such abuse and malpractices. For your own safety and security, it is always advisable to stay in the limits and know the line. 

When you happen to step out of the line towards an intimate or physical relationship with a co-worker, there is never a turning back point for you. You continue to work with those people in the company and things never go back to normal. Therefore, it is very important for you to understand the need to limit these relations and bonds. 

How to limit a bond with a co-worker?

It is best to be rightly outspoken when it comes to conveying to a co-worker that you wish to keep your interaction with them, limited. Silence can sometimes take a wrong turn and end up conveying an otherwise different meaning to your companions. Therefore, it is best to say out clearly what you feel about your bond with a co-worker. 

When a co-worker tries to step over that bond, you should recognise that action immediately and take the adequate precautions to ensure that your co-worker does not come down to assaulting you in any manner. Once you establish your intent quite clearly to your co-workers, chances are slick that they would approach you in any manner. Also, keeping your distance from people at work is sometimes a great way to ensure that you get the message delivered to them, loud and clear, without much adding on! 

Final Say

Therefore, to conclude, it can be rightly said that although co-working bonds are friendly and much needed, one should be smart enough to keep a limit on them and not allow them to become anything more than that. What appears to be a friendly gesture at first, might turn out to be a dangerous assault by your co-worker at a later date. Only your own commitment to stop this behaviour can actually stop this from happening and ensure that you remain absolutely safe at your workplace. Moreover, you might certainly not want any additional stress at work by adding troubles with co-workers in your daily routine. So, go ahead and maintain the bonds that you have to but keep a check on when and where to draw a line.