The super-easy thing you can do to boost your mood at the office

When you spend 40 (or more, let’s be honest) hours every week working with lots of different people—and their various personalities—it’s not surprising that things can get, well, difficult at times.

Tempting though it may be to ignore everyone and just hustle through your to-do list, a new study says buddying up to your colleagues can be a major mood booster—not just for yourself, but for the whole office.

Buddying up to your colleagues can be a major mood booster—not just for yourself, but for the whole office.

Over the course of a month-long experiment, the results of which were recently published by the British Psychological Society Research Digest, analysts asked employees at Coca Cola’s Madrid office to complete weekly surveys about their happiness levels, where they documented their positive and negative interactions with co-workers.

They also randomly (and secretly) assigned employees to one of three groups: givers, receivers, and controls. Givers were asked to perform five acts of kindness (all provided in a list) for receivers over the course of four weeks. The result? Their efforts inspired others in the office to be nicer. Plus, the receivers paid the positive vibes forward by being benevolent 278 percent more often than the control group. Best of all: Everyone reported being happier. HR included.

If you’re looking for tried-and-true ways to make friends at the office: stock your desk with drool-worthy snacks or organize a midday workplace workout.