Facebook friending co-workers & 2nd profile (employment, job, company, income)

[GBCommenter]

Here's my scenario and question:

As a general rule, I have in the past number of years not friended co-workers On Facebook. Theory is primarily that "friends and money don't mix" (and work is where I make my money). My concern is I post something or a co-worker sees something from the past, gets uncomfortable, and it becomes a HR incident. FWIW, I've leaned away from this but have posted items of a political nature in the past.

The no co-workers rule has been even more so in the current job. It is a professional company and I do relatively well income-wise (at least I think I am doing okay..) so I wouldn't want to risk it.

Additionally, the office is primarily Millennials that aren't necessarily all about the stereotype but many are on FB (I am Gen X, FWIW) . I suspect if I friend one, I will get inundated with many more. In fact, the office even has a FB page for everyone to connect.

I've considered creating a second profile that is used only for co-workers as a compromise so I remain connected without giving up too much separation for personal stuff. One concern raised is FB will "recommend" my other profile to co-workers and some people may get offended I don't connect my original profile.

Anyone do a second profile? Thoughts on the situation in general? Do you friend co-workers?

[Suburban_Guy]

To add or not to add coworkers on facebook??

[GBCommenter]

Perfect, thanks for the link. Confirms pretty much what I was suspecting - just keep it separate.

[Bo]

Add them on LinkedIn instead. LinkedIn is the social platform for professional relationships.

[tripleh]

the cons far outweigh thr pros for adding coworkers on fb.
just dont do it.

[JrzDefector]

I add my coworkers (not my managers though), but we are a very close and tight-knit company that is rather casual with regard to office atmosphere. I am exactly the same profane, radical left-wing person in my personal life that I am in my professional life. I dress it up a bit for conferences and dealing with clients (and I DO NOT friend clients), but I'm good at my job and known for being helpful to my coworkers whenever I can and having a generally good attitude. The good attitude and the competence is what is valued at my company - we actually have a "no jerks" hiring rule. We actually all really enjoy spending time with each other.

So, for my current situation, friending coworkers is not a big deal and actually boosts office morale. When I worked for a big corporate investment bank, I didn't friend anyone except for someone who became one of my best friends. It just didn't seem prudent.

It doesn't sound to me like your company culture would make it worth the hassle of friending coworkers if you don't want to censor yourself on your page.

As for starting a second FB page... I just think that sounds like too much of a hassle as well. Although I think the possible solution would be to change your last name to something ridiculous, change your profile pic to something obscure (as in not a photo of you) and set your privacy settings really high. Then start the second page with your real "formal" name. I've done that with my personal page to keep clients from sending me friend requests, and so far it has worked really well. Though, since I use my dog's name as my last name, my friends are still ragging me about "marrying" my dog :-/

[Creature of the Wheel]

I only add coworkers I trust. By trust, I mean those whom I have befriended, hang out with away from work, and so on. The rest might attempt to add me but their main goal is to attempt to find dirt and report it to my boss(es). I always decline the requests from the "others."