One of the twelve questions in Gallup’s well-known employee engagement survey is “I have a best friend at work.” In the United States, “just two in 10 employees report having a best friend at work.”
In 1999 Gallup called the item “clearly one of the most controversial of the 12 traits.” Employees “get stuck on the word ‘best,'” because they feel it implies exclusivity. When Gallup tried softer wording, the question no longer distinguished the best teams, so it kept the word.