Should you be Facebook friends with work colleagues?
It’s a question that is often a topic of controversy and quiet often workplaces don’t know how to give advice to their employees …. Should you be friends on Facebook with work colleagues? Is Facebook the correct place to be connecting to people at work?
Social media – It’s here to stay!
According to the statistic report from November 2014 Social Media News, Facebook still dominates as Australia’s favourite social media network. At 13,600,000 active Australian users, Facebook is connecting people every day but does that mean that everyone should be your friend, especially people in your workplace?
How much is too much?
Facebook is designed to let you share and connect your friends to important life moments (good or bad). We all have the friends that share the rare post to the over-sharer that checks in each time they are at the gym (you know who I am talking about). However, when you make friends with your work colleagues, often professional boundaries can be distorted that can leave your team knowing more intimate details of your personal life you wouldn’t necessarily share during work hours.
Consider if you are the team leader would this make it more difficult to manage your team appropriately? If you knew more personal details of an employee would you treat them differently?
The size of your team or workplace might be the key in deciding whether to add your colleagues to your Facebook network. If you get along well with your employees perhaps breach the subject mentioning that your choices are based on merit and personal activities rather than professional relationships that are fostered and grown online.
A distraction in the workplace
How clear is the use of Facebook in your workplace? Is there a work policy? Unless your Facebook chat settings are disabled, your colleagues will able to see when you were last online and how often you are using it (and you them).
What would happen if you were to catch someone using it when you know they have important work to do? Would this leave you in a difficult position? Sometimes it’s best not to know and ensure you are judging an employee on their level of work output and not the level of Facebook checking.
Consider yourself as well, if you are frequently checking Facebook during work hours, you may be unwittingly setting the example for others to follow suit.
Is it a distraction?
Facebook makes it all too easy to catch people online during work hours, consider if you may end up in a difficult position when disciplining people you interact with at work. On the flip side, if you frequently check your Facebook during the working day, you may unwittingly end up ‘leading by example’ and encourage employees to log in on the clock.
Next time you consider if Facebook is the most appropriate way to build a working relationship, consider the advantages and disadvantages.
If undecided or warning bells are triggered choose not to, you can always add a colleague later, it will be harder to delete them and then have that awkward conversation as to why. If you want to know your employees socially, think of other ways outside of the office.
