Sharing personal info with work

[Justbacon]

What level of personal detail do you share with work? Relationship breakdown, illness, health conditions etc. Do your managers know what is going on in your life. (Or managers - do you know much about your staff?) I have no idea what is usual, expected, appropriate to share.

I'm very honest with my manager and team. We all have lives outside of work and I want to be both supportive and supported.

Of course it has to be appropriate - I told my boss about IVF to have time off etc, but I didn't tell my team. I do talk about other home stuff, that my partner left etc. Not in detail of course. I think it helps team know they have someone to talk to at work if they need to. I also respect not everyone wants to talk like this.

I always check in with manager and team to see how they are - not just expect and report back lists of outputs.

We also talk about fun stuff - what we get up to in our free time, what we're watching on telly, share jokes.

Luckily I have a great manager and team and the culture supports all this. Company staff survey says my team is really happy and feels well supported so it works for us.

Why do you ask op - what's bothering you.

It's very individual.

I know a lot about my team & their personal lives, they'll share details with me, especially if they need support in work / accommodations.

However, it's entirely up to them and if they didn't want to discuss something, I'd be completely respectful of that.

I don't share much in terms of private information, general chit-chat about my kids etc but as a manager, I'd tend to keep my own life reasonably private, although I've occasionally disclosed some info on an individual basis.

Whatever you are comfortable with is fine OP

I tell my manager all these things briefly in monthly one to ones; I figure that it’s better he knows if I might need time off etc

There's a line and it can be difficult. Is there a reason you ask OP?

for example i will share what is necessary or relevant. Such as I needed time off and a few adjustments when my dh was seriously ill so told my manager and team. Equally my team come to me with their stuff too and know it's confidential and I will support them but I know not every manager is the same.

Need to know basis unless it's trivial things about me & mine. I'm happy with that.

Its really dependent on your work place, colleagues and boss. I've been on both sides-manager and staff member. I had 1 staff member tell me FAR too many personal details- her sex life, when she used thrush cream, posted wound pictures after her hip op and much more!

As a staff member, I wouldn't bother my boss with personal details, unless they were impacting my work.

Can you provide more context OP or why you ask?

To be honest I don’t share anything with work, but I’m in my 20s though and don’t have much to share. I hate the constant oversharing from colleagues though for example my manager spending the majority of our meetings together talking about his divorce issues

Nothing unless I absolutely have to, I’m the sort of person who treats work as work, rather than work and socialisation.

I have shared personal info with my manager due to taking time off - it feels uncomfortable.

Not that level of detail though @CJ0374 !!