Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work
We break down the now and next of work. You stay ahead.
Its not just you - work is bonkers. Burnout is high, trust is low, and everything is changing at breakneck speed.
Friend-to-friend? We get it. We're in it. And we're here to guide you through it.
We’re two leadership insiders—and real-life friends—who’ve led teams, sat in the tough seats, and know first hand how fast, complex, and personal work has become.
Every week, we break down what’s happening at work and to work, taking you behind the scenes of what's happening now, and preparing you for what you'll see in 6 months. We're bringing you breaking news, workplace trends, and interviews with top experts shaping the future of work. We cover what’s changing so you don’t get left behind.
Join us for smart, unfiltered (with the occasional f*bomb or two) conversations about how work is evolving and what you can do about it.
Great for:
• Employees rethinking their careers and trying to navigate what comes next
• People leaders shaping culture and driving change while getting the work done
• Orgs wanting to build smarter, more profitable, more human workplaces
• Anyone craving more honest and practical conversations about the future of work
Topics we cover:
Future of work, leadership, workplace culture, team dynamics, change management, human-centered strategy, layoffs, burnout, performance, career growth, workplace news, workplace humor, and more.
Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work
The Work Friendship Advantage w/ KPMG's Sandy Torchia
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Work friends can feel like a bonus, something nice if it happens and irrelevant if it doesn’t. We don’t buy that, and the research doesn’t either. Today we dig into what workplace friendships actually do to performance and culture, using three years of data from KPMG that points to a clear conclusion: connection at work is not incidental, it’s central.
We’re joined by Sandy Torchia, KPMG’s U.S. Vice Chair of Talent and Culture, to unpack what the numbers reveal about the employee experience. We talk about why employees with close friends at work show higher engagement, why they’re more likely to build skills, and how strong relationships can even connect to things leaders care about right now like trust in leadership and adoption of new tools including AI. We also explore how different kinds of work relationships affect wellbeing and resilience, especially when work is stressful or changing fast.
If you manage people, this is a practical lens for building a healthier workplace culture without resorting to forced fun or awkward bonding. If you’re an individual contributor, it’s a reality check on why “keeping it strictly professional” can quietly limit your growth and support network. Listen, share it with a teammate, and if it resonates, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s one thing that helped a real work friendship form for you?
Check out KPMG's "Friends at Work Report" here: https://kpmg.com/us/en/media/news/friends-at-work-2026.html
Follow Sandy Torchia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandytorchia/
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.
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Welcome And Why Work Friends Matter
Welcome to Your Work Friends, where we're breaking down the now and next of work so you stay ahead. I am Francesca. And I'm today we are talking about friends at work. Yeah. Which seems apropos for our title. Yeah, we know a little thing or two about that. We do. Fun fact, Mel and I started as friends at work, and friends at work can turn into a whole bunch of other things, but there's actually a lot of research and data behind this. Employees with close friends at work are more engaged, more likely to develop skills, more likely to adopt AI, if you're into that, and more likely to trust their leadership, and they volunteer at a four times rate than anyone else. This is the third year KPMG has tracked what workplace friendships actually do to the employee experience, and the picture that's emerging is that connection at work isn't incidental to performance, it's actually central to it. Yeah. We sat down with Sandy Torchia, who is KPMG's U.S. Vice Chair of Talent and Culture, and she joined us to walk through the three years of data and what it reveals, how different types of work re- workplace relationships shape wellbeing, engagement, resilience differently, and what leaders actually need to understand about employees who are most invested in the people
The Research Case For Connection
around them. It's eye-opening, actually. Yeah. Very. For, I would say for managers and for employees, if you are debating your friends at work or thinking about your friendships at work, it's worth a listen.
Meet Sandy Torchia From KPMG
With that, here's Sandy
Wrap Up And How To Follow
Speaker 6Thanks for joining us today. Music was by Pink Zebra. This episode was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Francesca and I of "Your Work Friends." And we're an indie pod, folks. We drop new episodes each week on Tuesday, so please
Speaker 7come back to check them out. Like, subscribe on the platform of your choice, and if you want one big meaty insight about work every single month, subscribe to our newsletter on yourworkfriends.com. Bye, friends.
Speaker 6Bye,
Speaker 7friends.
