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A workplace advice column tackles three reader questions: declining colleague friend requests on social media, dealing with a return-to-office mandate after a company acquisition, and coping with a costly but complicated new computer system.
A reader who recently started a new job in an office made up mainly of women says colleagues are asking personal questions and sending friend requests on Facebook and LinkedIn.
The reader, who describes themselves as a private person, worries that declining the requests could affect workplace acceptance. The advice begins by noting a big difference between LinkedIn and Facebook. LinkedIn is a professional page directly linked to work, so accepting professional connection requests there may be worth considering. Facebook is entirely different, and wanting a boundary between work and private photos is a personal choice, assuming the page is set to private.
Navigating Team Culture Adjustments
The reader may not have worked in a team of mostly women before. Just as women have often found themselves in male-dominated environments and had to adjust, the reader may now need to do the same. This does not mean changing who you are, what you value or the boundaries you set. It does mean understanding that personal questions may be challenging but could reflect how the team culture was established.
If the reader explains kindly and respectfully the wish to keep private life separate from work, new colleagues will likely understand and respond with kindness and respect in return. A second reader says their employer was recently bought by an international company and many things have changed. The latest change is a requirement to return to the office five days a week, up from three days in the office and two at home.
Many employees were unhappy because they were employed on the basis that it is a flexible workplace. The advice says being promised a flexible workplace is not necessarily the same as having a contractual right to work from home. Start by checking the employment contract, enterprise agreement, applicable award and flexibility policy. If two home days are expressly guaranteed, the position is stronger than if flexibility was merely a discretionary policy.
Understanding Return To Office Demands
The reader is not alone in the shift back to the office. Many large Australian businesses are winding back COVID-era work arrangements and requiring people back five days per week. What can be done depends on the contract, and working together with other employees to understand what might be driving the change is likely more helpful than acting alone.
If there are specific reasons for needing to work from home a certain number of days per week, the reader can try making a formal, individual request. A third reader says their company installed a world-famous computer system so complicated that every step requires painstaking care or all hell breaks loose. It was enormously expensive, yet any further improvements cost extra. The reader asks why such systems become so popular when their shortcomings are not discovered until after installation.
The sales teams must be extraordinary, but surely someone should have asked the people who would actually use it. The advice says this is a central mystery of new enterprise technology: the people who choose it are often not the people who will use it. A flashy sales presentation to senior decision-makers would have been followed by promises of efficiency, integration and transformation.
Documenting Software System Limitations
Those are all the buzzwords someone might want to hear as they embark on an enormous investment of licences, consultants and customisations. Regardless of first-hand experience, complaining now that the new system is a dud is unlikely to get far. Instead, it will be more helpful to carefully document the limitations and failures. Note the task being worked on, how long it used to take and how long it takes now.
Record the impact any errors might be having on customers or team productivity. Think about possible solutions that might help. Reversing the sunk cost of the investment is unlikely, so the best hope now is to try and make it work without wanting to pull your hair out. Good luck.
Kirstin Ferguson AM is the author of Blindspotting: How to See What Others Miss and Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership. Kirstin is ranked in the world's Thinkers50 list and holds a PhD in leadership and culture. More information is available at www.kirstinferguson.com.
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theage:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Social Media Boundaries Return To Office Enterprise Software Kirstin Ferguson
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