Is there such a thing as a work family?

Yesterday was a Monday. Honestly, who likes a Monday? Seriously.

The day starts by getting up before 4 AM just so I can be in my car and on the road to work before the crack of dawn so I can beat the horrific traffic. The bonus is that when I get to work there are very few people there so I can actually get some work done before the wave of noise and lower productivity sets in.

The engineers who work for me, however, are the delight of my day. These guys are wicked smart, creative, and funny. They are the reason that work is fun and the reason I put up with the ridiculous bureaucracy in the organization.

What I love about these people is that while we are working our tails off to deliver good software we laugh. Someone will share a Dilbert cartoon or a web link from some other software coding disaster. Or we share personal stories like how they met their girlfriend/wife or the latest family vacation. One guy who works with me longer than anyone shares recipes, talks about his beer making, his golf struggles.

When someone calls out due to a cold or this nasty flu we cover for each other. Everyone steps in to make sure nothing gets forgotten and the sickie doesn't come back with a full plate to sift through, but can come back and hit the ground running.

It's all terrific and it's what makes us a work family. Yes. That is the perfect description. We are a family who comes together for 8 to 10 hours a day and then goes home to our home life.

I am grateful for these wonderful and talented people for making my work family so diverse, interesting, fun, and extremely productive. Because yes, they do amazing work and make me smile.

Do you have a work family?