By Konstantin Marrach
Suddenly, a networking request pops up from the boss… For many women and men, this is one thing above all on private channels – apart from business social networks such as LinkedIn and Xing: unpleasant.
A survey conducted by the Monster job portal together with Yougov showed that almost one in four (23 percent) rejects it when the boss follows on channels such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter. Simply because this is too private.
What is striking: Significantly more women (27 percent compared to 19 percent for men) have a strict problem with revealing private content from social media channels to their bosses.
It also makes a difference whether the employee is single or in a partnership or married. According to the survey, singles are less happy with networking with superiors (27 percent versus 23 percent each).
This is mainly due to the fact that your own profile is often used here for dating purposes. “The fact that more women than men feel uncomfortable with a managerial network could be due, among other things, to the fact that women generally feel even more compelled to strictly separate private and professional life,” says Dr. Claudia Bibo, Senior Project Manager at Monster.
“Women are still often disadvantaged in the application process or when being promoted, for example because it is taken for granted that they take care of the children and are therefore more likely to be absent.”
And further: “Therefore, many women feel compelled to keep private matters completely out of the job context in order to counteract such assumptions and not pour oil on this fire.”
Also interesting: Just four percent of those surveyed would not dare to reject a networking request from the executive floor, despite their discomfort. “The fact that this number is so low is a good thing,” says Claudia Bibo. “Although social media and how we deal with it is changing more than ever before and private profiles are becoming more and more relevant in professional life, even in application processes, networking should be absolutely voluntary.”
You don’t automatically invite your boss to a garden party in your own home or offer to look at baby photos together.
The expert emphasizes: “Employers should accept a rejection accordingly, or carefully consider in advance whether it is appropriate in the specific professional context.” If in doubt, it also helps to simply ask beforehand.