Familiarity in job offers, at work: a good idea?

It’s still a minority overall, but the trend is strong. The use of familiarity in job offers is becoming more frequent.

According to figures* from Indeed, since January 1, 2020, the weight of familiarity in ads has almost doubled to +91%, although this only represents 3.2% of the total.

Obviously, some industries are more likely to use “you” to attract candidates. Still depending on the platform, it’s now in 10% of ads in marketing or communication and media and 9% of IT development ads.

But also in 8% of the job offers in retail or, what is more surprising, in more than 5% of the offers for human resources positions.

“Not the Right Sign”

This trend is also the result of the increasingly frequent use of familiarity in companies, among employees but also between employees and their management.

According to the magazine “Sociologie du travail”, 63% of French people use “tú” with their direct superior. A phenomenon that especially affects companies in the private sector where 65% of employees use familiarity.

This study reveals that managers are the most likely to use familiar terms with their boss, unlike employees who are more cautious. Like men who are much more to do than women.

Still, using familiarity is a double-edged sword. In job ads, this “helps send a somewhat deterrent message to older job seekers. Unfortunately, this can discourage senior candidates from applying, as they feel less comfortable in a position,” Indeed emphasizes.

Propitious terrain for manipulation.

Internally, in companies, the objective of many departments is now to create proximity between employees, in a more relaxed environment that fosters a greater team spirit. A more transversal approach to the Anglo-Saxon reinforced by the expectations of the employees and the new incorporations.

But familiarity can distort reporting relationships. “It is not because we know each other that we have become the same. The borders continue to exist,” says Alex Alber, sociologist and head of the study at RMC.

Therefore, it can be a source of discomfort when the employee has to handle a complicated situation or a delicate request (salary increase, working conditions).

“The problem with familiarity, when it is imposed from above and established as the norm, is that it surreptitiously links you to someone you are familiar with in a falsely friendly way. Familiarity or the systematic use of first names do not allow maintaining the necessary distance to respect the autonomy of each person, the limits between the private and the public are erased, as well as the differences in status and hierarchy, all of which creates a terrain fertile for manipulation and interpersonal conflict and moral harassment” summarizes the sociologist Jean-Pierre Le Goff.

*: All jobs on Indeed.fr that contain the pronoun “you” have been counted as jobs using the familiarity style.