Social media is now touted as a valuable tool that individuals and businesses have begun to use to form connections and search for professional opportunities. As social media has slowly become a part of a solid marketing campaign, social media is no longer just a personal tool to interact with family, friends, and acquaintances. It gives businesses the power to get a closer look at their current and future employees. It's important as a business owner and an employee to realize how far businesses can go with their cyber monitoring.
History of Business Employee Interaction
Before the internet, companies deemed employee worth based on personal interaction, work performance, gossip passed from person to person, and the occasional moment where an employee interacted with management outside the office. Social media and the internet changed the game. The barrier between professional career and personal life has slowly been eradicated.
Why? Employees play a part in a company's brand image. Wait a minute. Back up a step. Why should it matter? Employees don't own the company. They don't get a chunk of the profit. Why should they worry about how every comment and action plays into the company brand?
Well according to Meghan Biro, a contributor at Forbes, "how [...] employees represent the company's mission and brand is [...] important." Today every employee has easy access to the company's customers since as of 2012 84% adults used the internet at least once every day. This intertwining of a company's success with employee action inside and out of the workplace means that some companies are watching employee actions outside the workplace far more than ever before.
Personal Social Media and Privacy
A flushed out social media account is a collection of posts, links, and pictures that chronicle a person's personal values, work ethic, and opinions. It's a medium where close friends and family often exchange off-kilter comments, pictures, and opinions. Where "funny" images and contrary opinions are shared simply to get a rise out of intended targets.
Many of these messages are not meant for public viewing due to their controversial nature. Problems arise when an individual does not set up a safety wall between their social media and the general public. The Employer Handbook reported in October that a line cook was fired after a picture of him standing shirtless in a Chili's kitchen went viral. This is a reminder that social media can lead to job termination or other professional reprimands when either the company sees or an interested third party sees what they deem an "inappropriate post."
In an effort to prevent the messages from entering their professional sphere, many individuals modify their privacy settings on their entire account or individual posts. These safeguards are not perfect, so it is vital to look into your personal rights.
Social Media Law
In April of 2012, a Michigan teacher posted a picture of a co-worker that portrayed the woman with her pants around her ankles. It was meant to make her co-workers laugh. A parent, who happened to be Facebook friends with the teacher, found the post to be inappropriate for a school teacher. She reported the matter to the school district. The school district reacted by demanding access to the teacher's personal social media account. When the password was not handed over she was put onto unpaid leave.
In 2012 there was no national law that protected employee social media privacy. Many businesses demand access to social media accounts of employees and prospective employees. In an effort to ensure that companies cannot riffle through personal messages and posts, many states have since adopted laws to protect personal accounts from being used against them by businesses.
As of 2013 in Washington, employees cannot request or require employee or prospective employee:
- to give login information
- to log into social media account while employer is present
- to add an individual or employer to contact list of social media accounts
- to change the privacy settings on social media account to allow 3rd parties to see
In addition employers cannot punish an individual for refusing to adhere to any of the prohibited demands. The only time, according to Washington labor law, that an employer can demand access to social media accounts, is if it is a work issued account. Although employers can request copies of content on the account while conducting a formal investigation.
There is no national standard for social media labor law. Each state has slightly different labor standards on what is and is not acceptable. All businesses and employees who utilize social media accounts should familiarize themselves with social media labor law. And before posting that slightly controversial post or image, you might want to rethink who can see the post and how that could affect your professional life.