Your phone buzzes. It’s a Facebook friend request from someone at the office. Maybe even your boss. Do you accept? You’re pretty friendly at work, you’ve even had the odd lunch or Friday-night drink together. There’s no harm in accepting, right?
Wrong…
According to a survey by The Adecco Group, at least 1.6 million working Aussies regret having invited their boss or colleague to be a friend on social media.
From awkward revelations to holidays disguised as sickies, the responses will send you scrambling for the unfriend button.
Here are just a few:
1. “They started speaking to other people about my personal life at work, regarding things I did not want them to know.”
2. “Something I posted got taken way out of context and I lost my job.”
3. “Because they were very rude and had very strong opinions about my parenting skills.”
4. “I was so shocked by a Facebook post from a colleague in a sister business that I have stopped referring them work altogether, which may end up costing their company more than half a million dollars in lost revenue per year.”
5. “Because I knew they had a sick day when they were actually on holiday in New Zealand.”
6. “They saw something I posted regarding work and told the boss. Lesson learnt.”
7. “Being in a position of authority and seeing the racial hate diatribe they had on their social media made me lose complete respect for them.”
8. “[They] used some info against me that they found on my social media.”
9. “Because I don’t really like them in the first place.”
Top Comments
People need to remember that at the end of the day, colleagues are still colleagues first and foremost - they're NOT your friends.
That's not to say that you can't enjoy their company, some banter, Friday night drinks etc but if you let them into your personal life like that then it's only ever going to end badly.
I have a blanket rule & always decline any friend requests from colleagues & explain that's why, everyone understands! There's been 1 person of late that I have let in & before I accepted I hid anything remotely work related from her and I also blocked her from seeing any future posts at all - you can never be too safe & she's none the wiser!
The other thing you need to be careful of is having your job listed on facebook because then you are legally associating everything you say or do to that company and you can not only be fired but sued for any perceived damages too - it's just not worth it!
The real question is how soon can you unfriend someone you no longer work with? Particularly if you have friends in common.