I was chatting with V last night about a friend who recently returned from a rather lengthy work trip.
It had me thinking…
I have no idea what my friend does in their work life.
I mean, I know who they work for and generally what they do, but the rest is 99% mystery.
I know the weekend brunch version of this friend, but I don’t know their professional side at all.
Isn’t this kind of weird?
I mean, our careers don’t define us, but they’re certainly a big part of who we are. Yet most of us don’t have a clue about the day-to-day lives of our closest friends and family members.
We have take your daughter/son to work days, so why not have the same thing in the adult world?
Basically, employers would provide a few paid vacation days each year to shadow a friend or family member in their place of work.
OK OK, so maybe this has “Kramer idea” written all over it, but I personally would love to see what my closest friends are like in a work setting.
I also think it could potentially have great networking implications.
Think about it…
You bring your graphic designer friend to your workplace for the day. It just so happens that your company is looking for a freelance graphic designer to design some digital ads.
BAM!
Of course, it won’t always work out this perfectly, but at the very least your employer gets to see you on a more personal level, your friend gets to see you on a more professional level, and you get to be distracted for an entire day of work!
But that’s a small price to pay, right?
It’s also not guaranteed to be a distraction. It could end up being even more productive, since you’re trying to prove to your friend that you’re no slouch.
Of course, in my line of self-employed work this might not work out too well.
I imagine my friends would get bored after 5 minutes of watching me do things on my computer with limited coworker interaction.
In fact, we’d probably end up going out for a round of disc golf instead of being holed up in my apartment.
But I’d be stoked if one of my friends invited me to their work.
So who’s up for it?!