Is It Wise To Be Facebook Friends With Your Workmates Or Even Boss? HR Advices

By Jane Gakaria,

Being friends with your colleagues at the work place is one of the many advantages of working in a team. Not only does it make your life less stressful but it also provides the necessary team support to ensure you excel in your role. Question is, should someone consider taking that friendship to the next level and become friends online?

Speaking to Peter Njunge an Assistant Manager at Housing Finance, he states that “befriending colleagues online is perfectly fine but at least you should take into consideration who it is your befriending and the type of job you do.”

He adds that, “You obviously don’t expect a security to be on Facebook all day yet he is meant to be alert and keen on what’s happening around him. That said, below are some of the pros and cons of befriending you boss or work colleagues online.

Pros

One, facebook or online platforms are great friendship builders. If you don’t know someone and would like to extend a hand of friendship or simply get to interact with them, facebook could be a great place to start. Plus being friends online enables you to communicate with someone when they are away say maybe on holiday or somewhere just outside the office.

Two, use favourable face book privacy settings. “You don’t have to fear befriending someone online as facebook gives you the option to choose your privacy settings.” That is to say that you can control who exactly gets to see your activity on your timeline. For example, if you’re a introvert and don’t want to share much you can still be friends with people and limit the amount of content on you. Hence you can be ‘friends’ without ‘hurting anybody’s feelings.’

Three, it’s good for networking purpose. A lot of people use facebook, twitter, twoo etc. for networking purposes. Social media sites have connected so many people on so many continents and enabled them to interact and grow their network resource base. furthermore people who are really keen on using social media for networking stand a higher chance of climbing the corporate ladder or seeking new employment opportunities.

Cons

One, it causes major slip-ups. “Slip-ups happen all the time regardless of the type of security settings you have. For example you may have called in sick forcing your other co-workers to work on your behalf only for them to find pictures of you at a party.” Such situations have made many employees feel friending a colleague isn’t worth dealing with the consequences of their personal information being viewed by someone they know professionally.

Two, resentment of your colleagues. Social media is often used as a platform for venting out and giving personal opinions. “Sometimes you may find that you yourself are the cause of someone’s venting or an argument started online could escalate into a physical fight into the office.”

Three, crossing a line. If you befriend say your Manager on Facebook it may require you to limit the amount of information you share since you don’t want to mix up your personal and professional lines. “You could one day, by mistake, share something to your superior that could get you in trouble or worse still get you fired.”

In conclusion, no one is saying its bad to befriend your boss or colleagues, all I am saying is that you have to do it with caution. Your inbox may be full with friends requests, but before you hit that accept button, ensure you’ve taken all the above factors into consideration.

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