Say you were in a management postion, lead, supervisor, asst. manager, manager, director etc...,

Do you think it would be wrong to do things with other coworkers, outside of work?

ie: You're the lead and on a somewhat regular basis, you go to the movies, or shopping with someone you work with. (as friends only)

Do you think it would be wrong to talk about work to this person, even if it is outside of work?

Some people think what goes on outside of work is no ones business but their own. Even if your talking about other coworkers or the job itself.

Others think it is wrong period, esepcially if you are in a management position.

Do you think it is wrong to have friends in the work place?

Yes or No, do you think these things wrong?

Please explain your answer.

I don't think it's wrong to be friends with people as long as when you are all working, business is business...as the boss you should be able to act as boss even with a friend,,and a friend should respect you enough to know that while at work you have a boss - employee relationship.

I don't think a boss should discuss employees to other employees either, it really isn't professional. You would have to look at it like..how would you feel if your boss talked about you to your co-worker.

I think many times management gets left out of the "coworker" click. There are usually just a few bosses most would see outside of work (many of the bosses don't hang together). The bosses have to hear about how much fun the everyone else has after work, who goes out for drinks and all the parties. One of my coworkers had a graduation party for her daughter and my boss wasn't invited. My boss made a joke about not being invited but I could tell she was hurt. I don't see anything wrong with being friends with a select few coworkers. Don't do anything with a coworker you would be embarrassed about later or say something that could come back to haunt you. (eg: getting drunk and acting foolish or bad talking someone) Work talk is fine as long as it doesn't dominate your time together. Work should not be the only thing holding your relationship together. Sometimes it is nice to know that the boss is on your side. It is really nice to get an inside scoop that others don't have. (this works both ways) I have a good friend who is the BIG boss and very close to her coworkers. She has been friends with the same people for years. She considers herself a coach instead of a boss and they are truly a team. (she is in office equipment sales) If it came down to it, she would be the one to discipline or fire them. It could be a tough situation to be in. It is much easier to discipline a worker than a friend. Remember, you can't be everybody's friend (nor would you want to) so choose who you associate with outside of work wisely. You could end up with some wonderful friendships.

I don't see anything wrong with going out, but the management shouldn't talk about the business with non-management employees. For example if the worker was a union member, business shouldn't be discussed at all.

I asked this because I seem to be experiancing a problem at work.

I am the Lead Cook in the 24 hour deli I work at that is located inside a casino. I work Graveyard.

I have made a friend w/ one of the other cooks that I work with. I will call her Wendy. We are not constantly doing things together but we sometimes. Maybe go shopping, go to a movie or just do lunch.

We do talk about work but usually about the casino itself, what's going on in the deli such as changes stuff like that. Yes, once in awhile we might talk about other supervisors.

There is a Deli Supervisor and then there's 6 other Supervisors, plus a manager and a director. The other Supervisors are up in the buffet or the Restaurant. But when the deli supervisor is not here, then we go to one of the others. There is one Supervisor who comes in at 6:30am 5 days a week. I will call her Jane. Jane was talking to me other day and was telling me how she knows that Wendy, the other cook, and I do things together. "I have seen you guys upstairs together in the Buffet amd playing slot machines together." So, she assumes that since we do those things, that we must be doing stuff outside of the casino. Anyway...to make a long story short, my Supervisor told me that she didn't feel it right that I be doing things outside of work with my coworkers. She thought it was wrong. That you come to work to work not to make friends. She said she was going to check but that she was sure it was "Against company policy". She also said she was gonig to speak with my supervisor about this. And she did. My supervisor came in about 8am and I was still there. I only heard bits and pieces (because although she wanted to speak to him "privately" and did not want me to hear, she went back into the kitchen and talked where the day shift cook listened in and gave his opinion.) Anyway, she told him everything she had told me. He said that he felt there was nothing wrong with it. And that if he is outside work and wants to talk about his employees or management, so be it. It's on his own time.

As far as "against company policy" goes...it is not against policy for management people to "hang out" with co workers. The only thing that is against company policy is bad mouthing the casino in public. That will get you fired, no questions asked.

But I was just curious what others opinions might be.

I see nothing wrong with it. It happens all the time with my company and as management I have many non-management friends that I hang out with and yes, even discuss union material and other "hush hush" information. They were my friends first and as my friends I can trust them. There is nothing wrong with developing friendships at work. It's actually quite healthy to do so. Dating a co-worker, however, is another story and many companys do have guidelines against that.