There are exceptions and I see how it can act as a sort of safety net group of acquaintances on which you can build... but for most people, work has got to be the worst place to find meaningful relationships and purpose, hasn't it? You can be made redundant in a moment and lose contact, there's money, an explicit hierarchy, and competition making everything awkward, and the purpose is usually questionable (hence the money)

> but for most people, work has got to be the worst place to find meaningful relationships and purpose, hasn't it?

why?

it's not the best or the worst, it's one of the many places people spend time.

it also depends a lot on people's age, when I was young I made friends with people I worked with of my same age and at first experiences like me, we are still friends.

Now I mostly am there to do my job, meetings and be the "uncle" of younger co-workers.

is there a particular reason why college or the gym should be considered a better place to form bonds, except for people expectations?

> You can be made redundant in a moment and lose contact,

or you could move and lose contact...

or you could keep in touch because you became friends.

There's no general rule.

> there's money, an explicit hierarchy, and competition

I believe this mostly boils down to cultural differences, where I am from co-workers rarely compete fiercely and hierarchies are mostly not very deep, work is not organized like the military here.

It is probably less efficient, but it makes the work more stable, so people work at the same company for much longer on average and they do actually consider co-workers friends or at least people you have to interact with everyday, so why not make the best out of it.

Yes, but you spend so much time at work it's natural to want meaningful relationships and purpose.