I'm the Boss, should I invite my employees?

ConnStem21

Hey Ya'll,

I am the owner of a very small artist studio and I have two employees, one employee is in the wedding as a bridesmaid cause i've gotten to know her really well over the past 3 years and we've become friends, however the other one just started. At the time of my wedding she will have only worked for me for 4 months part-time. My studio is like a family and we work really close all day. I know the feeling of working somewhere where everyone else is invited to something and you feel left out. I hate making anyone feel that way. But is it in poor taste not to invite her? What should I do. ( cost isn't a problem, its Boss Etiquette)

Thanks!!!

Simply Fated

Since you only have two employees, you're literally leaving 1 person out. If you had, say, ten employees, that ratio would be noticeably worse.
I'm not saying you have to invite all your employees, but if you don't want to leave someone out, don't leave them out lol.

HisGirlFriday13

I agree. Leaving out one person is exclusionary. Invite her.

blabla89

Invite her. No one wants to be the one person left out. If she doesn't feel comfortable attending because she doesn't know you that well, then she is free to decline.

doeydo

I don't think you are obligated to invite her.  You are friends with the other employee and see her outside of work.  But if you want to make sure that no feelings are hurt, you could invite her.

KGold80

If it isn't an issue with costs or numbers, I think you should probably invite her.

kitty8403

I think this is a tricky one. We opted not to invite employees and contractors, just company partners (who, coincidentally, will all be family). The groom's family is inviting their employees, maybe half dozen? Some are friends outside of work; others are not. All have worked there at least a year. For them we took an all or nothing approach--I am including those adults but not their children.

Inviting employees blurs the lines between business and friendship. She hasn't been there long and you don't know her well. I would say you don't HAVE to invite her, but with this caveat. You can't go wrong by choosing to include her. By not including her, you could make her feel slighted, subjected to office gossip, or unimportant. She might confuse the lack of invitation with a commentary on her job performance. Inviting her, while again, I don't think it is your obligation, avoids those potential pitfalls.

mysticl

My advice would be don't invite any employees and don't have an employee as part of your wedding party.  They may feel obligated to attend these events because they depend on you for a paycheck.

However, that ship has sailed.  So now I would say you are in the position where you should invite the other employee.  Like others have said if you had more employees and were only inviting one person it wouldn't be that big of a deal.  But since she would be the only one not invited it could cause issues.  You would be setting yourself up for her to see the other as the "favorite" and that she gets preferential treatment.  

[Deleted User]

I don't know, working part time for four months, with an invitation from the boss, I might feel obligated to go.  Then the only people I'd know would be the bride and a bridesmaid and them not that well.  I'd leave right after dinner or as soon after as I could swing and just feel weird about it the whole time.  If you're following etiquette in the workplace right now by not talking about your wedding, I wouldn't worry about inviting the part-timer.

tammym1001

FI and I have a company with five employees. Four of them are family so they're obviously invited. The one employee who isn't family was invited because we didn't want to leave him out. We also invited his girlfriend and their daughter. 

RebeccaFlower

I think you should.