Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

How Should You Handle a Partner’s Facebook Friend Request?

Boss-friends-social-media-med

Ding. It’s a friend request. You’re so popular. One problem. It’s from one of your engagement partners. Awkward.

Now you have a dilemma. Are you obligated to say yes? Or, maybe, you let it sit in the unanswered request pile for eternity and pretend you never saw it. Weigh the options careful and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Sparking this discussion is CEO David Kalt’s blog on Wall Street Journal this week that encouraged executives to get to know their staff by requesting their friendship — on Facebook. He said:

Nearly every Monday, we welcome several new hires. Their first day is relatively normal by “first day at a new job” standards. They participate in training sessions. They shake hands with lots of new people. They shadow the customer engagement team.

And then it gets weird: I friend them on Facebook.

David claims that Facebook connections help you understand and empathize with your people and, meanwhile, they offer a way for execs to humanize themselves to their subordinates. Theoretically, even though you control their lives, being Facebook friends could make someone less on edge when they interact with you.  

Still, the handful of positives does not outweigh the potential of invading too far into someone’s personal life. Does a partner:

  • Really want to hear staff complain about work on Facebook?
  • Need to see what questionable activities staff participate in after hours?
  • Want to comment on your political rant?

I think not.

David is the first to admit it could be disastrous:

Of course, this tactic – like most – has the potential to backfire. You might end up with information you wish you didn’t know. Your attempt to relate to younger employees by, for example, using a Bitmoji, could be misconstrued. But at the very least, you’ll open the door for more meaningful conversations and stronger relationships.

While meaningful relationships and building a great rapport with everyone you work with is great, maybe this isn’t the right avenue. What about going out to lunch instead? I have a feeling that in this instance it’s unfortunate that the generational technology gap is shrinking. A decade ago wondering if it was a good idea to friend your boss wasn’t even an issue since it didn’t happen in the first place.

Before you click accept, don’t forget to think long term. Everyone has those friends that you can’t unfriend but probably should. And, what do you do when you jump ship and get out of public?

Or, on the flip side, what should a partner or manager do when their first and second-year staff stay their obligatory year or two in public accounting and quit, is it an automatic defriend? Should this be part of the termination protocol? Sure, why not! Oh, and they should wipe their phone while you’re at it too.

It’s a slippery slope, my friends. So, where do you draw the line?

Image: Unsplashed / William Iven

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Comments are closed.

Related articles

freaked out guy

ChatGPT Talks About AI Taking Accountants’ Jobs From the Perspective of an Accountant Losing Their Job to AI

Ed. note: I asked ChatGPT to write about automation in accounting from the perspective of an accountant losing his or her job to AI. Here’s what it said. Note: Going Concern does not publish AI-generated content unless it’s clearly labeled as in this case. Believe it or not, humans write most of this crap. As […]

some vaguely futuristic concept image

KPMG Is Putting ChatGPT to Work, It Probably Won’t Be Stealing Your Job For Now

KPMG Australia has joined PwC in deploying AI to get some work done, finally giving us the “robots taking your job” scenario we’ve been eager for since at least 2010. It’s here! Funny enough, KPMG blocked staff from using ChatGPT a little less than two months ago, though it did allow certain IT professionals to […]