Hanging Out with Coworkers Outside of Work

[SilverBells, BSN]

At work, sometimes we tend to get friendly with some of our coworkers, especially if we have worked with each other for a long period of time.  Sometimes this leads to gatherings and outings after hours and on the weekends. 

However, this does lead to a few questions. For instance, would some of you consider such outings to be problematic or unprofessional?  What if the gatherings consist of only one manager, while the other attendees fulfill nonsupervisory rolls? Have any if you attended such gatherings? If so, did it affect your work performance? 

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

I learned early on, this a big solid NO. Unfortunately, too many blur that line and expect preferential treatment when situations arise. My work and home lives are totally separate. No facebook, IG, or Twitter interactions, acknowledgements, friending or following. It keeps my life simple. I don't care about "Susie's" cute posts or tweets. I don't want anyone in my business.

When you mix business and pleasure, it can be very problematic. Just don't. It's okay to be friendly with coworkers, but unless there was existing friendship prior, or a lot of true 'in commons' outside of the work setting, avoid it. You'll avoid other issues in the long run

[Davey Do]

If I was social with my coworkers, I was afraid they would learn my secret identity.

Now that I'm retired, there's no problem. With the movie being out, everyone knows anyway.

 

[AlwaysTiredNP, MSN, APRN, NP]

I do not go to friendly gatherings with coworkers, but I will attend professional gatherings. I also don’t allow coworkers to follow me on social media, or give too many details about my personal life other than just the basic superficial stuff. Sometimes this means I am not “in” but, also that means I don’t get involved in drama or tied up in other unprofessional nonsense that sometimes happens.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Yes, the best places I've worked as far as colleague relationships are those where we socialize with each other outside of work. Even as a leader, I've socialized with peers, my boss, and my direct reports. 

In fact, my current workplace does a quarterly "forced fun" event (that's what they jokingly call it) where we take a half day and spend it together (this is the leadership teams from all the clinics in the region, as well as our director). This past Friday we had our "forced fun" event - we met at our director's house, where he fed us lunch and made us margaritas, then we went to an escape room, and then met at a local brewery afterwards for a beer.

I think getting to know the people who work with/for on a personal level is healthy and makes for a happier work environment.

My one line in the sand is that I do not "friend" people I currently work with on FB.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

4 hours ago, klone said:

In fact, my current workplace does a quarterly "forced fun" event (that's what they jokingly call it) where we take a half day and spend it together (this is the leadership teams from all the clinics in the region, as well as our director). This past Friday we had our "forced fun" event - we met at our director's house, where he fed us lunch and made us margaritas, then we went to an escape room, and then met at a local brewery afterwards for a beer.

I think getting to know the people who work with/for on a personal level is healthy and makes for a happier work environment.

My one line in the sand is that I do not "friend" people I currently work with on FB.

What you are stating is 'leadership' teams. Does this include non leadership folks? If not, you're not going to have to worry about crossing lines with those you are in charge of. I believe that what you're discussing is different than what SilverBells is meaning. I think Bells is talking about informal haning out, FB friending, etc

[klone, MSN, RN]

13 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

What you are stating is 'leadership' teams. Does this include non leadership folks? If not, you're not going to have to worry about crossing lines with those you are in charge of. I believe that what you're discussing is different than what SilverBells is meaning. I think Bells is talking about informal haning out, FB friending, etc

Okay, but you also cut out the first part of my post:

 

Quote

Yes, the best places I've worked as far as colleague relationships are those where we socialize with each other outside of work. Even as a leader, I've socialized with peers, my boss, and my direct reports. 

That included meeting at the local bar on Friday afternoon for happy hour, gathering at someone else's house for a baby shower, etc. So my post still stands.

[Davey Do]

I don't know about the rest of you all, but I know that I want to PAR-TAY with these ladies!

[AdobeRN]

I have no problem hanging with coworkers outside of work.... but only ones that I like and actually friends with ? I am a school nurse so I have a handful of teacher coworkers that I get along with, we all like each other and are friends outside of work - friends where we attend happy hour, have gone to each others houses for BBQ/celebrations etc and even have traveled with a few of them. 

I am friends with the principal of the school I work at (technically my immediate boss) but we were friends before she came into that role - Our husbands became good friend first years ago, our kids grew up together, same girl scout troop, dance team etc. Some other staff know we are good friends but while at work we don't really advertise it, when we interact together outside of work social media posts about what we are doing are kept to a minimum and very sanitized, no pics of alcohol etc - LOL.  She is very good about keeping work separate from our friendship, and while I would love to know all the juicy work stuff about other staff members, I don't ask about any of it.  

 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I have a few friends I see socially outside of work. However, none of them are in a supervisory role, nor am I. I have a moderate level of interaction on social media, but I don't use social media for a whole lot other than keeping family and friends up to date on the kids' events. 

[SilverBells, BSN]

On 5/1/2022 at 4:29 PM, Hoosier_RN said:

What you are stating is 'leadership' teams. Does this include non leadership folks? If not, you're not going to have to worry about crossing lines with those you are in charge of. I believe that what you're discussing is different than what SilverBells is meaning. I think Bells is talking about informal haning out, FB friending, etc

Yes.  I've recently gotten together with a few co-workers.  However, with me being the only one in a supervisory role, I do wonder if there's any possible consideration from this.  These individuals and I got along very well prior to me becoming a unit manager,  so there's that. We're also facebook friends.  However I've avoided posting anything about our gatherings on facebook to minimize any implications that I might be showing favoritism.  

[Davey Do]

Back on the early '90's, I hung out with another nurse after work, and we ended up having an extramarital affair that lasted for years.

Mostly, it was great, but there were a few little downsides to it.