Could you imagine being required to turn over a copy of your house keys as a condition of employment? “Just to make sure you’re the right type of employee…”
Maybe a detailed list of your personal phone log? “To make sure you’re not talking to the ‘wrong people'”…
Probably not, but some companies, and colleges, are asking the equivalent of their employee’s (student’s) facebook account, especially if the privacy is set to private. While I can understand an employer’s desire to make sure the employees are not bad mouthing them, this is not the best way.
Legal Ramifications
Quick Aside: I am not a lawyer, nor do I even play one on TV. These are more common sense questions that should be addressed before implementing required access to social media accounts. I recommend seeking professional legal advice if you have any concerns.
Aside from the obvious privacy issues which many are writing about, consider the following legal issues that might arise against the employer.
First – forcing a “friending” can be a potential legal mess. What if the employee leaves? Does the manager/hr un-friend the employee? Could this be seen as “retaliation” for the employee leaving? What legal ramifications would this have?
Second – if the employee has to provide the login account, their becomes the issue of not only privacy, but also security. Many people use one of only a handful of passwords. Therefore it is like getting a master key to the employees on-line accounts. Now what happens if an account is hacked? Can you prove that no one from your organization improperly accessed the other accounts?
Ways to work around it
While it would be nice that all people always said nice things about their employers, the realistic likelihood of this occurring is next to none. So what can be done:
- Have a clear policy which defines what is and isn’t appropriate to discuss in a public forum, and define clearly what the public forums are.
- Use alert software which looks for public data listed on-line for public comments. I like to use Google Alerts personally.
- Try to keep a good work environment. Happy employees are less likely to write/speak negatively of their company.
- Determine if you have the right employees. If you constantly feel like you have to watch over your employees – do you have the right employees?
About Walter Wimberly