Comments on: Warning to bosses: Don’t ‘friend’ employees

By: natalie

natalie — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:15:15 +0000

I had to respond, I never do and just read wishing and wanting to, and I must admit,
Harry has given the BEST response, Harry just to let you know you are not alone, we maybe few
but not alone.
thank you,

By: Harry

Harry — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:23:25 +0000

Well I must be really out of touch with Facebook, Twitter, text, and other forms these types of communication. I do not text, I do not Twitter, I have a Facebook account but never use it and here is why!

I live in a small community, have worked in HR for 20 years, come to company sponsored events available to our staff, our staff and production employees, or the general community.

I strive to keep everyone the same. It does not matter if you are my CEO, my President, a member of our staff, production employees, or the person that cleans the bathroom. I attempt to treat everyone the same.

I have friends outside of work, but I do not hang out with workplace people unless it is something that we do with everyone. I feel I am very consistent with each and everyone, and you know I use the same criteria for everyone.

I do not like facebook, I do not send emails with my company email unless it is business. I use my home email and computer for my own personal information and my own personal use. I never mix the two.

I can look at everyone each day, my life is predictable, and what every happened to just doing things fair and consistent. Why do people want to make their life so complicated? Keep it simple and straight forward. At the end of the day, you will have less worries and more friends. By the way all of my co-workers are my friends.

By: Should supervisors ‘friend’ their subordinates on Facebook? | HR Morning | Your daily dose of HR

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:02:16 +0000

[...] Facebook can help your managersManagers: Don’t ‘friend’ your employeesWarning to bosses: Don’t ‘friend’ employeesLove among the cubicles: Study details how firms deal with workplace [...]

By: Pragmatic One

Pragmatic One — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:31:56 +0000

What about authenticity and living one, integrated life? The generation today will expect to continue with its social networking once they begin work life. All of a sudden, are they expected to suddenly de-friend the hundreds or thousands of social networking friends they have made during school years?

Could it be that fear is driving this position? Many people simply accept all friend requests, and manage their profiles to allow minimal viewing. This creates an on-line presence, and proactive management of a vehicle that could be driven by an imposter one day.

There are many benefits to social networking. Fear of terrible things happening should no more govern positions with its use any more than the fear of terroism should drive our behavior regarding the use of airlines.

We all simply must be aware of what we post, and what is posted about us. This simply requires being politically correct in both our personal and professional lives. The one integrated life approach.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:21:00 +0000

I think it should be at your discretion if you want to be friends with someone you work with. There is such thing as limited access so people only see what you want them to see.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:11:33 +0000

Jilly,

Nothing good ever comes from a close friend relationship with a subordinate co-worker.

You may ask why? Why cut the ties when everything is going so well and you feel that you can be the boss and have your friends at the same time. Well that’s great until a problem develops and you are forced to make a decision. So what happens when a problem arises and co-worker friendships are involved?

Well first off, you will probably lose any co-worker friendship you may have with the involved parties.

Second you may do serious damage to your career, especially if your judgment is clouded by a personal relationship that affects your ability to make a decision or take action on the situation.

So, in my opinion, yes you need to limit the level of your relationships in the work environment. You don’t need to be rude about it, but you do need to make it clear that you are the boss and you need to ensure you maintain a professional relationship with your subordinates. If you don’t it could come back to haunt you.

Jon

By: Sherry

Sherry — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:10:52 +0000

At this stage in the game, do you remove all colleagues and subordinates, if your network has already become quite large?

By: Connie

Connie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:18:29 +0000

How did all of you people in business do your jobs before Facebook and all the other social sites!?!

By: MW

MW — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:29:33 +0000

Angel, yes companies hire an individual and pay them to do a job. The individual is also a representative of their company anytime when they tell another person what they do and where they work. As an employer, I hope that my employees present themselves in a positive way. Negative behaviors displayed at a company party or anywhere pictured and posted will haunt the company’s reputation (as well as the individual) forever. The information is out there and can be downloaded forever. Any individual that is concerned with their own overall reputation should be concerned about being tagged or displayed anywhere . . . out there!

By: Angel

Angel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:46:29 +0000

I completely disagree with the advice. For example, the precautions of getting sued for performance issues can be mitigated by managing those issues through a number of mechanisms such as progressive discipline.

The line differentiating your “home” and corporate persona is becoming blurred as a function of adoption of technologies but more so due to an increasingly accepted principle that one’s life is may just not determined by their employer. If anything, employers need to remember they hired an individual– that may or may not have posted a few pictures from the company party.