Office friendships are a lifeline for women in a patriarchal, sexist world

Friendships forged at work act as an emotional support network against demanding and often toxic work environments. Available evidence places psychological distress linked to employment at very high figures among Spain's working population.

The friendships you make in the office are not a decoration. They function as a support network that helps you hold on to your own identity when work demands too much. The lifeline metaphor is no accident: in an environment that can become hostile, having someone nearby who understands what is happening without needing it explained changes the experience of working.

## Workplace distress in numbers

According to the Mental Health and Work report published by **UGT** (a major Spanish trade union) in **2025**, between **37%** and **46%** of workers in Spain report stress, depression or anxiety linked to their jobs. These are figures that point to widespread distress, not isolated cases.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work reached similar conclusions in the **OSH Pulse 2025** survey, which focused on mental health in the workplace. Around **65%** of workers suffered health problems caused or worsened by work in the last twelve months. And **29%** specifically pointed to stress, depression or anxiety caused or aggravated by their job.

This context paints an uncomfortable reality: work, which should be a source of income and fulfilment, becomes for many people a source of psychological wear and tear. And in that scenario, the bonds created inside the office take on another dimension.

## Competitiveness as an aggravating factor

Some companies foster rivalry among employees. Journalist **Beatriz Serrano**, author of the novel *El descontento*, describes how that dynamic can translate into a dehumanisation in which the other person is seen simply as a rival. When the empathy button has to be switched off, friends in that hostile context can be a lifeline.

In her book, Serrano portrays the generational weariness of those who have sacrificed a great deal and keep striving every day to live an unsatisfying present. At work, she says, there is a generation stuck in entry-level positions, always on the threshold of adult life without ever getting past the landing. Outside, the price of housing, the rising cost of groceries and the absence of community generate an increasingly real sense of isolation.

The office then becomes one of the few places to find someone to share what is happening with. Not just professional matters: also pregnancies, house moves, break-ups, illnesses, money troubles. Things that have nothing to do with the company's projects but are part of life.

## The risk of losing touch with yourself

Psychologist and neuroscientist **Mar Ricart** explains that office friendships make the work experience something shared, something that cannot be understood by anyone who does not live it first-hand. And she warns of a specific risk: we can feel we are drifting away from ourselves when almost all our energy is devoted to working.

We disconnect in order to keep functioning and stop having space to ask ourselves what we need or what makes us feel alive. That leads to a state of depersonalisation from having spent too long running on autopilot.

French anthropologist **Marc Augé** coined the concept of non-places to refer to those transit spaces with no identity of their own: escalators, metro corridors, supermarkets. An office may or may not become a non-place depending on the people inside it. The friends you make there offer a shortcut when you cannot find your way back to yourself.

## Alliances that go way back

These alliances are not a new phenomenon. Serrano recalls that our grandmothers and mothers had to navigate deeply sens contexts with far worse working conditions. Although labour rights have been won, in that context the knowing glance was just as important as it is now.

Popular culture has portrayed that complicity. In **1980**, **Jane Fonda**, **Lily Tomlin** and **Dolly Parton** starred in *Nine to Five*, directed by **Colin Higgins**, in which three employees endure their boss's sens attitudes. After an accident that nearly costs the supervisor his life, they join forces to implement measures that improve conditions for their colleagues. When the boss returns to work, he discovers that those measures earn recognition from the CEO himself for their good results, forcing him to respect them. The film was nominated for Academy Awards.

The series **Severance**, created by **Dan Erickson**, takes that idea to its dystopian extreme: workers suppress all memories of their outside lives while they are in the office. The corridors and rooms are designed to reinforce that dissociation from their own emotions. Only when genuine relationships form between colleagues do they begin to realise they need to get out of there.

Ricart sums it up: friends, whether from the office or anywhere else, function as a support network and are sometimes even an anchor that helps you stay yourself in an environment that demands you always give one hundred per cent. In a job market that can be isolating, that complicity is not a luxury. For many people, it is what makes everyday life bearable.