Office colleagues may be the best friends you ever make - especially if you work in a stressful environment

Space and Society, described an office workplace as 'the modern-day social club.'

Lead researcher Anne Cronin of Lancaster's Sociology Department explained that the office is where people of all ages and all types are often thrown together without any notice or choice yet have to spend several hours a day side by side, often in stressful situations.

Yet instead of coming out of it hating each other, it creases tight bonds and strong friendships.

She added: 'The demands and stressful environment of the workplace, where employees feel they have little control, shape emotionally close friendships.

'Workplace friendships may have particular resonance as it 'throws people together' to facilitate friendships which might not have developed elsewhere.'

But while work friendships are also formed by common bonds - everyone has the same boss, work in the same environment and have very similar duties - office individuals are often very different to each other.

'Workplace friendships may thus have particular resonance for people today as they offer 'safe interpersonal spaces' in an uncertain context.'

Colleagues in a stressful office form the strongest friendships they may ever know with each other, according to a new study.

Research from Lancaster University found that far from falling out with each other or being rivals, the day-to-day demands of office work mean friendships formed there are closer and more emotional than any other.

Even workers who seem to have little in common can become best friends, particularly if they have to cope with a boss like the Ricky Gervais character David Brent from The Office.

And far from the back biting seen in shows such as The Apprentice, workmates can often become best friends in the face of adversity, said the university study.

Researchers individually interviewed 40 workers in two different UK offices about their friendships in and outside the office.

Each participant was asked to rate how strong or emotional these friendships were.

From this, the researchers formed a series of circles of friends with bigger circles for those relationships which were seen as having the strongest emotional ties.

The patterns clearly demonstrated that the most powerful friendships had been made in the office, said the study.

The study also found that friends at work are better placed to offer each other emotional support at times of stress which forges much closer ties.

The report, written for the journal Emotion