Subjective and anecdotal experience: My most productive period was working with people that I got along really well with, as opposed to people I sort of just put up with.
Well, sure, but the question isn't asking that. It's asking about "best friends".
At 14 I started my working life manning a deep fryer. I retired a couple of years ago at age 54. In between I waited tables, operated a fork lift, managed a framing shop, installed cabling plants, worked as a sysadmin, network engineer, solution architect, proposal manager, director of engineering, CTO and in retirement now manage a 215 acre horse farm and project manage the extensive restoration of a 1875 farm house on the property. I've left a few things off that list. My anecdotal experience is that during those 40 years my productivity wasn't tied to whether I liked the people I worked with. In fact some of my most productive periods were when I didn't.
I get along well with everyone I work with, but they aren't my family or my friends. It's important not to confuse the two.
I think this question is telling in the aggregate but not so much on an individual level.
Given a large company you can determine the cohesion between all employees and compare that to other (successful) companies.
I am no expert in any of this but this appears to be a proxy metric for tenure. As tenure increases people are more likely to consider someone a friend. So being below average on the cohesion would mean to me that the company needs to work on employee retention.
My 2 cents
I've been inflicted with this survey for a couple of years now. The whole thing is pretty laughable, to be honest. At least, my team laughs at it.
That question is one of the most ridiculous -- so ridiculous that I (and the rest of my team) aren't even sure what is actually being asked.
It can't possibly be "best friend" in the traditional sense, as that simply doesn't make any sense. I have rarely seen a workplace where people are working with their best friends, mostly because most people have established their "best friends" well before they took their current position.
The consensus our team has reached for that question is to just answer "yes", because if too many people answer "no", then the result is that we have to develop some sort of action item to address this "problem".
In the end, the entire thing is just bullshit intended to make upper management feel better.
I absolutely believe that it is predictive of top-performing teams. But in my experience, being a member of a top performing team is a crappy work/life balance. So for management types wanting maximum performance, it is a meaningful question. For those of us who are fine with working at a more comfortable 80% level, not 100% peak performance, it is a silly question. And that discrepancy is exactly why the question causes concern.
I've noticed the core members of office mobs are close friends, while the rest of their network is controlled with manipulation. Are they measuring that?
I find difficulty putting much stock into it. Perhaps my answer is why: no, I don't have a 'best friend' at work. I do maintain connections with useful specialists, though.
I'll go to bat for my team/trust they'll do the same, but I avoid friendships at work for the same [personal] reasons one may avoid working with family.
I have a lot of acquaintances. None of them know what really makes me work, so I don't consider them friends. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like what's behind the masks...
Now, in terms of effectiveness, it's a wash in my opinion. Distance has value, I can be the bad guy and not worry about it too much. I miss out on a lot but that's fine, I've seen a lot too.
If nothing else I want to offer this distinction: friends and friendly
My company used to have Gallop run our engagement survey. That one did seem to raise eyebrows often. I always wondered what the action item was there? Like, other questions that did poorly they would try and do things to remedy (or really just talk about it and never accomplish it), but idk how anyone is supposed to help people make friends at work?
It’s spelled “Gallup”
I'm not exactly sure what this is asking. Is it asking if my best friend is also a co-worker? Or is it asking if I have someone who would be considered a best friend while inside the confines of the office?
Yup the question is poorly phrased. Not useful.
It's even worse translated... Such a mess.
Either interpretation should be acceptable. Yes to either or no to both.
Interesting question.
TL;DR; its a gauge to see how willing to leave you are.
Long version: For some crazy reason I am often interested in why people leave a job. Of course there is a corollary, why do people stay? Especially if the job is terrible. In talking with a lot of people in many professions, the most common theme applied to why people stayed at a bad job.
People fail to move on from a bad job if they have a sense of loyalty to the co-workers and "cannot leave my friends behind".
Although it should be obvious, the fewer ties you have the more willing you are to move on.
this is typical HR bs...no explanation, no discussion, 'we have a paper that says so'...i still have to hear from any HR sources about their methodology and science behind it, and in the meantime everybody else is dancing to their tune