To ask how friendly you are with your employer ?

[hellokittymania]

For example are you on your employers Facebook? Do you go for coffee outside of work? What do you share with your employer about your personal life?

I ask because I run a very small friendly organization and I feel sometimes that people I hire either ask me too many personal details or they over share .

I am a very sweet looking person and I am very caring so I think people forget that I am there employer and not their best friend I had to fire somebody last year and it wasn't pretty because she saw me as her maid and not as her supervisor . I was also about to hire somebody last month and boundaries were overstepped even before I hired him so I chose not to hire him .

Even if you are self employed with a small business and only have one or two employees are you careful about what you share?

Yes that's the right word Pom bear.

Just seen this thread after posting on Employment Issues . I had my employer as a Friend on Facebook but as 'restricted' so she doesn't see all my stuff. We're not 'friends! I think it's important to keep a professional relationship separate from friendship. You never know what will change between you. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/2877815-Boss-reading-my-emails-and-big-mates-with-colleague-am-I-being-paranoid

I don't use Facebook (or anything similar) - one of the reasons is that I prefer to keep my work and personal life separate.

I socialise with colleagues, including my line manager and/or the people I manage, if it's a work-organised event, but not otherwise.

I socialise with my bosses and people who work for me. I've been a manager of people for 12 years and have a good understanding of the balance that should be struck between work / social life, and I believe that not having a complete "manager / employee" line makes me a better manager. Social media etc is completely your choice - if you've been a manager for 10 years you should have no problem just saying "I choose not to add colleagues on social media". However - being described as childlike by your employees should really ring an alarm that you're not always being professional or similar. That said, you should be yourself at work. By being fair, consistent, balanced and approachable - whilst recognising the need to potentially performance manage you should have a healthy mix of good manager traits.

My area manager is on my WhatsApp contacts but that's it. He and I have a very good working relationship but I draw the line at socialising with him. I keep work and home/own time very separate.

Having said that, in times of crisis such as family ill-health, bereavement, divorce etc, I have always found for myself and colleagues that our managers will ask, "what can we do to help?" That could be counselling, unpaid leave, etc because they want to make sure their staff come back fully prepared and ready to work (It's safety critical front line public transport)

I am slowly getting better at it Gretchen. We managed to pull off a really successful workshop yesterday. The last workshop I had to organize was when I was 24 years old. What a difference nine years makes. It is my organization and I have had to learn everything on my own so I am still learning.

Maybe they don't take you seriously if you describe yourself as sweet looking. As for the child like comment, I don't think you look younger then your years (from the photo provided) it may be if you dress child like perhaps?
Either way as a boss I think a suitable distance is good whilst still remaining friendly and approachable.

I work for a massive company something like 30 thousand people.

In my office, around 10-12 people.

I am friends on Facebook with 3 people one I have known for 15 years. One who I knew outside of work and one who is actually a work buddie but now friend.

I have no bosses/management at all.

1now this is why I ask other people and mentors for their input as I miss a lot of social cues and other things And I don't always understand what I'm doing wrong or what I should be doing if you can understand me clearly .

As I mentioned before it has taken a very long time to get where I am now. I am always willing to learn and improve though and thankfully there are plenty of supportive people out there Who have helped me to do so .

Thank you to everyone who has answered. So absolutely no to social media.

My boss friend requested me on FB so I felt obliged to accept it.
I never post anyway and even less so now
I don't like it

I keep work and the rest of life separate. To reduce stress. So I maintain a professional relationship and distance.

I think you have a sensible approach OP and taking on feedback non defensively is a fab (and hard!) trait to have as a manager. Your employees should just accept with good grace your declining to "friend" them on social media. If you have good RL relationships with them this shouldn't matter anyway