The Merits Of Employers Monitoring Our Social Media

-- By MattSavoff - 01 Jan 2015

Be careful what you post. This new mantra which parents must reiterate to their children has become only more important. The rise in social media over the past decade has been accompanied by a rise in employers looking into these social media accounts of prospective employees as well as a rise in firings due to social media posts. Of course, this subject is of great debate and many advocates actually believe that companies should be monitoring even more. Those in support of more privacy argue that social media has nothing to do with work and should not be monitored unless the employer suspects that specific employee of wrongdoing. I subscribe to the belief that that when hiring a candidate employees absolutely should look into the person’s social media. Employers should monitor social media use of employees as well given the risk social media presents to companies.

Is Social Media Helping or Hurting?

In a 2013 survey conducted by CareerBuilder, 39% of companies reported they look into social media accounts of candidates. Of these companies, 43% uncovered information which nullified their interest in the given candidate. The two most common reasons found are the candidate having inappropriate or provocative pictures and information about the candidate drinking or using drugs. That being said, 19% of employers reported that they actually found information which made the candidate more attractive, such as the candidate portraying a professional image and good communication skills. With this knowledge in mind, candidates hold their fate in their hands. By knowing that there is a good chance your prospective employer will look into your social media accounts, you can strategically reformat your social media to appear more attractive to employers.

The Hiring Process

During the hiring process, companies certainly should look into the candidates’ social medias. Finding out more about the candidate and who they are is crucial for an employer because they are not just hiring the worker bee, they are hiring the person as a whole. This person becomes a reflection of the company outside of the office as well. Those who criticize employers looking into candidates’ social media accounts claim that it leads to discrimination by screening out strong candidates who may have done things the company does not like. When companies look into their candidates’ social media accounts, they are looking for legitimate reasons that the person may be a bad hire. Information such as lying about work or education history, publicly referencing drugs and other illegal activities, and harassment are all subjects of interest for an employer looking into a candidate’s social media. The company wants to find if there is anything about the candidate that presents a legitimate concern; hiring an employee is a large investment on the company’s behalf and they should fully look into the person before making a decision. A police department, for example, may reconsider an applicant if they find the person belongs to racist groups through social media.

Now That You’re An Employee

Once the potential candidate is hired the company does have a legal right to monitor the employee, but they do not have a legal duty unless they legitimately suspect the employee of illegal conduct. Many states such as California and New York have laws in place to protect employees from being disciplined for off-duty activity on social media unless the activity can be shown to harm the company. This is an important distinction from a theoretical piece of legislation which prohibits employers monitoring what employees post on social media. Joe Hyman, a Labor & Employment lawyer and workforce.com contributing editor, argues that there is nothing private about social media. In large part thanks for social media, the line between the personal sphere and work sphere no longer exists, or at least is very blurred. Even outside of work, employees are still a reflection of their employer and therefore employers have a legitimate interest in making sure their employees are not on social media posting harmful statements such as racist or harassing comments.

Companies must also be vigilant in ensuring that their employees are not divulging confidential or proprietary information through social media. While a certain level of common sense may dictate that an employee will not post private information about the company publicly online, there are many tone-deaf people in the workforce who may do just that absentmindedly, which presents a great risk to any given company. Social media also presents a platform for disgruntled employees to badmouth the company, clients, or coworkers, which the company should be aware of. This can lead anywhere from workplace complaints to lawsuits, and it just be kept in mind that social media records can be subpoenaed and used as evidence in court. In an interview with Nancy Flynn of the ePolicy Institute, she cites examples of serious employee missteps in using social media. She discussed examples of hospital employees who have been fired from discussing patients on Facebook. This violates both hospital policy and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Flynn argues that “strict monitoring allows employers to spot potential problems early, get the information offline as quickly as possible and discipline the employees involved.”

It is a misconception that employers believe their employees are on social media with the intent of harming the company. In many circumstances, including other examples provided by Nancy Flynn, the employee’s activity is unintentional and it may not have been caught had the company not seen it and resolved the matter promptly. I believe that the rise in social media usage presents a burden to companies because social media has created more outlets of risk which companies have to watch. Because of this, companies should monitor social media usage of employees for the sole purpose of protecting themselves. Employees are already protected by legislation so they cannot be disciplined for their social media usage unless it directly harms the company.

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