Workers want a lot of things. In the summer months, employees wanted more flexible schedules and summer Fridays while for others, it’s more about finding the right work-life balance by way of working remotely or having more days off.
But perhaps the secret to a successful workplace isn’t necessarily the perks — it’s about having good coworkers, according to a new survey.
A survey commissioned by OnePoll surveyed 2,000 employed Americans and found that 84% of respondents agreed that what makes a job great is having great colleagues. Without colleagues that help them strive toward greatness, respondents said that a job can’t be great.
The survey, which wanted to look at the different factors that contribute to a happy workplace, found that having great colleagues certainly has its perks for employees and companies.
Two thirds (67%) said that they have at least one co-worker who turned into a close friend, which has a positive effect in the workplace because it meant employees who are friends with coworkers are twice as likely to look forward to going to work.
In addition, the happiest moment for workers during the day is their everyday interactions with colleagues. Nearly 40% of respondents they’d even take a pay cut to get the perfect work environment. Coincidentally, nearly half of respondents said that the office environment was such an important cog to their production, that they left a job because they didn’t enjoy the culture at work.
For workers who really enjoy where they want, more than half said it was by talking with a coworker.
Other workplace amenities that made colleagues happier were salary and benefits and flexibility.