I am curious as to what is the benefit of having employees chit-chat with each other, or become friends. I have never personally worked in a dev team that has the `esprit de corps` but as long as you give me a good design, I will implement and release it, and I will work with others to help them in their work.

But I am absolutely not interested in their political opinions, what they had for lunch or what their girlfriend told them last weekend.