Having a close friend at work makes people measurably happier on the job — and measurably more likely to be job hunting anyway. A new KPMG and CivicScience survey finds employees with close personal friendships at work report far higher engagement and manager trust than “non-socializers,” but they’re also nearly three times more likely to say they’ll be searching for a new job within the next year, according to KPMG’s “Friends at Work 3.0” report.
Key Points
- 49% of employees with close work friends report being “always engaged,” compared to 35% of non-socializers.
- 78% of close-friend employees say their manager genuinely cares about them as a person, versus just 32% of non-socializers.
- 42% of close-friend employees say they’re very likely to search for a new job in the next 12 months — nearly three times the rate of less socially connected employees.
- Data comes from CivicScience surveys of 558 to 1,354 employed U.S. adults, fielded April 17-22, 2026.
On the surface, close work friendships look like an unambiguous win for employers. People with strong social ties at work report meaningfully more happiness (82-83% versus 48-53% for non-socializers) and excitement about their jobs (65-66% versus 35-37%). They also feel more supported by leadership, with more than three-quarters saying their manager cares about them personally, compared to roughly a third of employees without close work friends.
The flight-risk number complicates that picture considerably. Despite reporting higher satisfaction on nearly every measure, close-friend employees are also the group most likely to say they’re actively job hunting, at a rate nearly triple that of employees without those social ties. That’s a genuine paradox: the people who seem most content day-to-day are simultaneously the ones most prepared to walk.
Part of the explanation may sit in who these highly connected employees are. The report notes that 55% of employees with close work friends also manage other people, and this group reports notably higher stress, in the 63-68% range. Being well-connected and well-liked often overlaps with being a high performer or a manager, and high performers tend to have more external options and more confidence to pursue them, regardless of how much they enjoy their current team.
For employers, the takeaway isn’t that workplace friendship backfires. It’s that engagement and retention aren’t the same thing, and treating high engagement as proof someone is staying put may be a mistake. The employees companies most want to keep — well-connected, trusted by management, genuinely engaged — appear to be exactly the ones with the confidence and network to leave if something better comes along.
