To Friend, Or Not To Friend
That is the question that was raised today at work. My co-worker received a Facebook friend request from our boss, and she's the only one who did...which kinda has her freaking out a little bit. But the question this scenario raised is, if your boss sends you a friend request on any form of social media, should you accept it?
I've had all day to think about it, and I've come to the conclusion that the answer is no. I took a poll on Facebook to see what my friends and family think and the consensus thus far is that, unless you have a friendly relationship outside of work, you probably shouldn't accept the request because it could cause, at the very least, awkwardness, and in the worst case, you could get fired.
But why would you get fired? Well, let's think about that for a minute...let's say you have a really bad day at work, and it was your boss's fault. You post a status update saying how you really feel, and your boss reads it. I don't know too many boss's who are not going to take that in a bad way. Or maybe you say something bad about the company you work for. Again, not too many boss's are going to be okay with that. I don't want to get fired simply because my boss is having a bad day or because the company I work for is run by an outcast monkey. So, to be sure, I would never send my boss a friend request on any form of social media. I have a right to vent, and frankly, so does my boss. I wouldn't want to remove that option from either of us.
But what should you do if your boss sends the request? That's complicated, because if you accept, then the best you can do is to set the privacy on ranting posts to exclude your boss...okay, but that's complicated, time-consuming, and you'd have to go back and change the settings on everything that's been said or shared up to that point...that's a lot of work.
Your next, and best option, is simply to refuse the request and tell them that you prefer to maintain the separation of business and non-business. Of course, if your boss is a jerk, then this could get you in deep, too...but I would hope, for everyone's sake, that your boss is smart enough to realize that the door swings both ways. You can fire me, but you can't stop me from telling other people why.
Best case scenario? You and your boss agree to pretend you don't exist outside of work.
I've had all day to think about it, and I've come to the conclusion that the answer is no. I took a poll on Facebook to see what my friends and family think and the consensus thus far is that, unless you have a friendly relationship outside of work, you probably shouldn't accept the request because it could cause, at the very least, awkwardness, and in the worst case, you could get fired.
But why would you get fired? Well, let's think about that for a minute...let's say you have a really bad day at work, and it was your boss's fault. You post a status update saying how you really feel, and your boss reads it. I don't know too many boss's who are not going to take that in a bad way. Or maybe you say something bad about the company you work for. Again, not too many boss's are going to be okay with that. I don't want to get fired simply because my boss is having a bad day or because the company I work for is run by an outcast monkey. So, to be sure, I would never send my boss a friend request on any form of social media. I have a right to vent, and frankly, so does my boss. I wouldn't want to remove that option from either of us.
But what should you do if your boss sends the request? That's complicated, because if you accept, then the best you can do is to set the privacy on ranting posts to exclude your boss...okay, but that's complicated, time-consuming, and you'd have to go back and change the settings on everything that's been said or shared up to that point...that's a lot of work.
Your next, and best option, is simply to refuse the request and tell them that you prefer to maintain the separation of business and non-business. Of course, if your boss is a jerk, then this could get you in deep, too...but I would hope, for everyone's sake, that your boss is smart enough to realize that the door swings both ways. You can fire me, but you can't stop me from telling other people why.
Best case scenario? You and your boss agree to pretend you don't exist outside of work.
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