{"id":8083,"date":"2023-11-27T14:34:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T14:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/?p=8083"},"modified":"2023-11-27T14:34:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T14:34:12","slug":"is-it-any-of-your-employers-business-who-you-are-friends-with-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/is-it-any-of-your-employers-business-who-you-are-friends-with-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it any of your employer\u2019s business who you are friends with at work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph\">How would you classify your relationship with your colleague? ITV posed that question when updating its policy on workplace relationships last month. The broadcaster asked staff to declare not just romantic and family relationships but platonic ones too: flatmates, close relationships or friendships.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Some commentators were aghast, decrying it as a ban on work friends, conjuring a white-collar dystopia in which colleagues furtively slide messages on slips of paper under their desks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">A zero-friendship policy would be bad for business. More than half the workers polled by the US Society for Human Resource Management this year had a colleague they called a close friend. Work friends improve engagement and productivity. Since the pandemic, friendship, according to Gallup, has become increasingly important to workers. A best friend, the polling company says, increases \u201cemployees\u2019 likelihood to recommend their workplace\u201d as well as \u201ctheir overall satisfaction with their workplace\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Navigating the hybrid workplace is all the better with a friend, a more compelling incentive to lure commuters into the office than a free sandwich or a meeting \u2013 and someone to surreptitiously message while Zooming.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">However, this is not a ban on friendship but an attempt to make ties between workers more transparent. ITV is looking into safeguarding procedures in the wake of presenter Phillip Schofield\u2019s departure after lying about an \u201cunwise, but not illegal\u201d affair with a younger colleague.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Sarah Henchoz, an employment partner at law firm Allen &amp; Overy, says policies on friendships are not widespread, though it is \u201cpretty standard to require employees to disclose conflicts of interest they may have in relation to, for example, new hires\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Procurement is another such area. Failing to declare such relationships can lead to distrust \u2013 the UK government has been tarnished by accusations of chumocracy in awarding contracts during the pandemic in an opaque tendering process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Public sector organisations, including the NHS, universities and councils ask for disclosure of friendships within teams. Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust\u2019s policy says: \u201cIf you are closely related to another employee or have a close personal relationship with another employee who you directly\/regularly work with, you must make sure your manager knows. If the person you are related to or that you have a close personal relationship with is your manager then you need to approach their manager.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">One challenge is the haziness around work friendships. The NHS trust says: \u201cEmployees are expected to exercise judgment in determining whether or not a friendship has developed to such an extent that it can be described as a close personal relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">But where is the line? A drink outside of work? A holiday? A godparent to your work bestie\u2019s child? What if you fall out with your friend: do you update management? You might see yourself as an acquaintance to a colleague whereas they see themselves as more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">If anything social media has made the lines fuzzier. \u201cWe\u2019ve got used to people having 600 friendships on Facebook,\u201d says David D\u2019Souza, membership director at the CIPD. \u201cThat\u2019s different to having 600 people you can call in the night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Policies on workplace romances are clearer. Some employers ask staff to disclose them, others ban them between senior executives and subordinates. Meta has a code of conduct for dating, allowing co-workers to ask each other out but not a second time.<\/p>\n<article class=\"default__ArticleBody-sc-1nhbny4-2 kWWtWa article-body-wrapper article-sub-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">Pam Loch, founder of Loch Associates Group, an employment law firm and consultancy, says disclosure policies are designed to diminish favourable treatment \u201cby changing line management or putting other steps in place to change or remove that level of influence\u201d. It also potentially helps guard against retaliation should the couple split.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">In recent years, non-disclosure has triggered the departure of business leaders, including Bernard Looney from oil company BP, Jeff Zucker from CNN, the news network, and Steve Easterbrook at McDonald\u2019s fast food restaurants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">There is some overlap with friendship, particularly when it comes to preferential treatment, says Nancy Rothbard, professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who has researched the dark side of workplace friends. While support from friends is important, she says, reciprocating it might prove \u201cdistracting\u201d. It can be hard to give \u201ctough feedback to a friend\u201d. Friendship at work can also lead to perceptions of preferential treatment. \u201cWork friendships can be seen as cliques,\u201d leading to feelings of exclusion, which is demotivating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">\u201cIt is a problem but it won\u2019t be solved with a list,\u201d says D\u2019Souza. Potentially, organisations end up with a volume of information that gives the illusion of control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-1nhbny4-0 gVsmvl body-paragraph paywall\">It often seems to me that the best test of friendship is when you leave. It\u2019s easy enough to be matey when in need of an ally to let off steam. Much harder when you no longer bond over shared bureaucracy or the irritating habits and terrible decisions of a colleague. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How would you classify your relationship with your colleague? ITV posed that question when updating its policy on workplace relationships last month. The broadcaster asked staff to declare not just romantic and family relationships but platonic ones too: flatmates, close relationships or friendships. Some commentators were aghast, decrying it as a ban on work friends,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/is-it-any-of-your-employers-business-who-you-are-friends-with-at-work\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Is it any of your employer\u2019s business who you are friends with at work?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":8084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,78],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-8083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-latest-career-advice-and-work-trends","tag-careers","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is it any of your employer\u2019s business who you are friends with at work? - RecruitIreland.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is it any of your employer\u2019s business who you are friends with at work? 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