Many of us see our work colleagues just as much, if not more, than friends and family – or at least, that was the case before March 2020 and the Covid lockdowns that followed. So how crucial are these workplace friendships in luring employees back to the office after several years of working from home? And is there an inevitable trade-off between climbing the corporate ladder and keeping up your workplace friendships? Host Isabel Berwick discusses these questions and more with Lynda Gratton, professor of Management Practice in Organisational Behaviour at the London Business School, and Sarah Gordon, chief executive of the Impact Investing institute in London and formerly business editor at the Financial Times, where she was one of Isabel’s good workplace friends! Want more?What do friends bring to the workplace?https://www.ft.com/content/f13bca30-45ea-11e2-b780-00144feabdc0When your best workplace friend leaves:https://www.ft.com/content/62b2db86-60e7-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599eFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. One-click sign-up at www.ft.com/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.