Having a work wife is making you less productive, apparently

If you have a work wife, you'll know how important they are to your wellbeing at work. You might spend your mornings catching up on the night before, or telling them about every detail of a recent break up, or spending every lunchtime together.

You spend almost 40 hours a week with your work wife, compared to the handful of hours you'll spend with your friends when you can finally pin them down for brunch or a drink (and if you live in London you probably have to book them in five weeks in advance).

So it makes sense to have a work BFF.

But according to new research, having a work wife is actually hindering your career.

Who knew that spending half an hour nattering at the water cooler every morning was affecting your productivity? Hmm?

Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Hong Kong, Dr Sangyoon Park, studied workers at a seafood processing plant in Vietnam to assess how productive they were.

He noted which employees were friends and how they interacted outside of working hours, then gave them each different workstations, some with friends closer to others and each with four people per station.

And the results? Those workers who were situated close to their friends were 6% less productive than their co-workers. However, when the friends were separated their productivity went up.

But apparently, Dr Park also found that employees who have work friends are more likely to stay later and ultimately pick up more skills as a result.

So while having a work wife reduces productivity, it will also encourage you to learn more.

What we're taking from this is that having a work BFF is actually good for you and you can't convince us otherwise.