LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for networking and building your professional brand. With over 722 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. As a manager or business owner, you likely already have a strong LinkedIn presence to showcase your accomplishments, skills, and experience.
But what about your employees? Should you connect with them on LinkedIn? There are good arguments on both sides of this question.
The case for connecting with employees on LinkedIn
Here are some potential benefits of linking up with your team members on LinkedIn:
Strengthen company culture and morale
Connecting with employees on LinkedIn can foster greater feelings of inclusion, transparency, and camaraderie. It signals that you view them as valued contributors rather than just a name on the org chart.
Enhance your company’s brand and reach
Your employees’ LinkedIn networks can exponentially expand your company’s social media presence. Their connections become part of your extended network, increasing awareness of your brand.
Showcase your team’s talents
Employee profiles on LinkedIn provide a platform to highlight your staff’s skills, achievements, and diversity. This can aid recruiting and retention efforts.
Enable internal referrals
Connecting with your team makes it easier to share job openings and make internal referrals. Employees can instantly notify qualified candidates in their networks about opportunities.
Share company updates and events
Broadcasting news through employee networks shares your messaging more widely. You can also promote company-sponsored events, training programs, and social initiatives.
Track employee growth
You can follow employees’ LinkedIn activity to see if they are actively managing their profiles, expanding their networks, gaining new skills, etc. This provides insight into their professional development.
The case against connecting with employees on LinkedIn
On the other hand, here are some potential drawbacks to consider:
Blurs professional boundaries
Some argue that connecting with employees on personal social media networks crosses a line and muddies the employer-employee relationship.
Causes distraction or inappropriate use
Employees may be tempted to check LinkedIn notifications, messages, etc. during work hours if connected to their boss and coworkers.
Risks oversharing
Employees who connect with their managers on LinkedIn may feel pressured to share more personal information, photos, interests, hobbies, political views, etc. than they would otherwise.
Creates a Big Brother effect
Some employees may feel their boss is watching and monitoring them if connected on LinkedIn. This could breed mistrust and resentment.
Exposes proprietary information
Employees connected to leadership may inadvertently (or intentionally) share confidential or proprietary corporate information on LinkedIn that should not be public.
Allows poaching by competitors
Competitors may try to recruit your employees away if connected to them on LinkedIn. Being accessible to your team makes them accessible to rivals.
Best practices for connecting with employees
If you decide there is value in connecting with your staff members on LinkedIn, here are some best practices to follow:
Create a company policy
Develop clear guidelines regarding expectations for employer-employee connections on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Don’t pressure employees
Connecting should be optional, not mandatory. Let employees initiate the request to avoid making them uncomfortable.
Use privacy settings
Utilize LinkedIn’s privacy tools to limit what posts your employees see and what information they can access.
Monitor content sharing
Pay attention to any confidential, inappropriate, or legally protected information employees may share on LinkedIn.
Train on best practices
Educate employees on smart LinkedIn usage like keeping personal and professional separate and not oversharing.
Lead by example
As a manager, model ideal professional LinkedIn behaviors like posting valuable content, actively engaging, and highlighting achievements.
Share company updates
Leverage your employee network to distribute important company news, milestones, policies, events, etc.
Promote internal job openings
Increase visibility of new positions by sharing with your wider employee connections on LinkedIn.
Key factors to consider
When evaluating whether to connect with employees on LinkedIn, here are some important factors to weigh:
Your company culture
If you have a more open, transparent culture that encourages social connections between leadership and staff, linking on LinkedIn may make sense. If your culture is more hierarchical and traditional, it may seem inappropriate.
Your management style
Managers with a more collaborative, communicative style may be more likely to embrace LinkedIn connections than old-school authoritarian bosses.
Your industry norms
Some industries like tech and media tend to have looser professional boundaries and embrace social media, while more buttoned-up sectors like finance and law may frown upon it.
Employee comfort level
Consider if your employees would welcome LinkedIn connections or if they would feel imposed upon or uneasy about it. Some may value privacy and separation.
Maturity level of staff
Younger, digitally native employees may have fewer concerns about social media overlap than more experienced professionals.
Factor | Favors Connection | Favors Separation |
---|---|---|
Company Culture | Open, transparent | Hierarchical, traditional |
Management Style | Collaborative, communicative | Authoritarian |
Industry Norms | Tech, media | Finance, law |
Employee Comfort Level | Would welcome connection | Values privacy/separation |
Staff Maturity | Younger, digital natives | More experienced |
The pros and cons of connecting on LinkedIn
Here is a summary of the key pros and cons that often come up in the debate over whether to link to employees on LinkedIn:
Potential pros
- Strengthens company culture and inclusion
- Extends reach of employer brand and messaging
- Showcases and recognizes staff skills and diversity
- Enables internal referrals for openings
- Allows sharing company news and events
- Provides window into employee growth
Potential cons
- Blurs professional boundaries
- Can cause distraction and inappropriate use
- May pressure oversharing of personal information
- Fosters a “Big Brother” surveillance feeling
- Risks exposure of confidential data
- Opens door to poaching by competitors
Key takeaways
Here are some key high-level takeaways on the question of connecting with employees on LinkedIn:
- There are reasonable arguments on both sides of this issue.
- Much depends on your specific company culture and industry norms.
- Employee comfort level should be considered and connections shouldn’t be forced.
- If allowing connections, establish clear policies and monitor content.
- Weigh the risks of oversharing and distraction vs. benefits of transparency.
- Balance professional boundaries with desires for an open, social media-friendly culture.
Conclusion
Connecting with employees on LinkedIn has obvious upsides in terms of branding, communication, and camaraderie. However, it also comes with privacy, oversight, and interpersonal challenges that require thoughtfulness.
Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. You need to carefully weigh the pros and cons through the lens of your company’s specific culture and objectives. With the right policies and training, connections can be leveraged successfully, but blindly forcing connections risks doing more harm than good.
The most important thing is to have open conversations and get input from employees themselves before making a firm decision. With care and buy-in on both sides, LinkedIn can provide a bridge between leadership and staff rather than a barrier. But connections should facilitate, not undermine, strong workplace relationships.