{"id":494,"date":"2017-06-13T14:17:21","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T14:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oculus-hr.co.uk\/?p=494"},"modified":"2017-11-22T14:17:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T14:17:48","slug":"should-you-be-facebook-friends-with-your-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oculus-hr.co.uk\/blog\/general\/should-you-be-facebook-friends-with-your-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Be Facebook Friends With Your Employees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a ton of challenges that come hand-in-hand with employing a team of staff\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ensuring that productivity is high and that you\u2019re getting a good return on your staffing investment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping up to date with performance reviews. <\/span><\/p>\n

Staying on the right side of employment legislation. <\/span><\/p>\n

And the tricky question of whether you should accept that friend request that you just received on Facebook from your team member. – It could get messy!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Granted, in the grand scheme of things, this is hardly the kind of challenge that should keep you awake at night. <\/span><\/p>\n

But as we move into a heavily digital era that relies more and more on technology to connect and communicate, it\u2019s a day-to-day issue that a lot of leaders are likely to face at some point or another. <\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, it\u2019s worth noting that there are no hard and fast rules here. There are no laws that exist that tell you that you can\u2019t have your staff on your friends list, and there are none that say that you should welcome them into your digital world with open arms. <\/span><\/p>\n

For every leader that tells you that it\u2019s a bad idea that you should definitely avoid at all costs, for a whole host of legitimate reasons, there\u2019s another that has done the opposite very successfully, and will tell you why that it\u2019s an approach that you should take too. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the decision comes down to you. Your business. Your friend list. Your rules. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few important considerations to make though\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re connected with an employee on social media, you\u2019re likely to find out more about them. How they like to spend their weekends. What they eat for dinner. And possibly even more contentious factors such as their religious beliefs and political affiliations. If problems occur further down the line at work, and they\u2019re dealt with in accordance with disciplinary proceedings, then there\u2019s a chance that it could be claimed that it was because of the information shared on Facebook. <\/span><\/p>\n

As well, if you\u2019re friends with certain employees and not others, this could lead to accusations of favouritism. Equally, you can\u2019t force your staff to be connected with you outside of work, and there are probably people on your team who can think of nothing worse than receiving a friend request from you. If they prefer to keep their personal lives private, then you\u2019ve put them in a very awkward situation. <\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, you should never use a social platform to communicate about work-related matters. Respect your employees\u2019 spare time, don\u2019t blur the lines between work and play, and keep the confidentiality of office issues in mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

Are you open to the idea of having your employees on your friend list, or do you think that it\u2019s an HR disaster waiting to happen?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are a ton of challenges that come hand-in-hand with employing a team of staff\u2026 Ensuring that productivity is high and that you\u2019re getting a good return on your staffing investment. Keeping up to date with performance reviews. Staying on the right side of employment legislation. And the tricky question of whether you should accept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nShould You Be Facebook Friends With Your Employees? - Oculus HR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oculus-hr.co.uk\/blog\/general\/should-you-be-facebook-friends-with-your-employees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should You Be Facebook Friends With Your Employees? - Oculus HR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are a ton of challenges that come hand-in-hand with employing a team of staff\u2026 Ensuring that productivity is high and that you\u2019re getting a good return on your staffing investment. 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