Social Networking Sites (Facebook etc) and Employment (1 Viewer)

[Cookie182]

This has become quite a hot topic in the press of late. The issue of whether or not employers should be able to terminate your position based on seemingly 'private' photographs/comments made outside of the workplace.

Facebook discipline may be illegal: expert - Technology - smh.com.au

Your Facebook secrets: jobs under threat - Technology - smh.com.au

What do you guys think? Is this ethical practice? In my eBusiness lecture last week, the lecturer even warned us of inappropriate discussion/photos on Facebook and how employers are now 'purchasing' the details to your account prior to job interviews. One story included a recent grad with great marks rocking up to an interview only to find a laptop waiting for her, displaying some Saturday night drunkenness with friends.

So for the recent grads (or penultimate) in particular, will you be scrapping the facebook/myspace/twitter etc?

To the broader issue, should firms have the right to invade in the purely private lives of their employees? Or do we simply suffer a fate of our own making, given the seemingly public nature of the internet these days? Noting that, in Facebook's 'fine print' you actually legally transfer ownership of anything you place on your page to them. If you no longer 'own' images, how can you claim privacy?

Discuss.

 

[withoutaface]

Employers should be able to use whatever tools the wish to suss you out.

 

[jb_nc]

u are stupid if u upload anything personal

 

[Lentern]

I dont't like the recent grad example, I think that wasn't fair dinkum but if you post "Cricket was fucking awesome, can' wait till tommorow" on your facebook when you've rung in sick you should cop it.

 

[mrcalkin]

Its only happening because they need reasons to lay off employees.

 

[Serius]

I can see both sides to the argument. If was an employer i would be using everything i possibly can to determine who is the best candidate. Nothing else offers such an intimate and candid shot at someones life. If one person is spewing company secrets about their old job, has photos of themselves getting wrecked on a weeknight, joking about how they didnt show up to uni the next day because of how wrecked they were and is a member of some strange and disturbing groups on facebook then yeah you would translate those findings to a work environment and realize they might not be the best candidate.

On the other hand we do have a right to privacy and employers should only be judging us on simple things like our marks, extracurricular activities and how we present in the interview. Drinking is not illegal and even if it was, what you do in your own time to unwind is not the companies business and if i rocked up and they showed me my facebook just like that i would say it

: everybody drinks including you, i am young and i socialise alot and what i do in my own time with my friends is not your business. All you should be concerned with is my performance at work and if that slips then who gives a shit why it slips, you fire someone who cant perform simple as that.

 

[dp624]

Hmm, can employers actually purchase your details off from facebook? That'd be quite urgh

 

[greekgun]

Use your privacy settings people

Yeah...somehow i imagine that some employers would be willing to make some random account and add the employee in question, and the employee would accept the randoms add request out of curiosity.

But i dont know about this issue - as an employee i rekon its bullshit that we can have our facebook, myspace other forums etc invaded by our employers and they can obtain material which they cn terminate us with and stuff. I mean, there websites where we can unwind and relax and there taking that away from us.

On the otherhand, employees should be able to use every tool available to them to check out whos working for them and if their doing some rat stuff like bathing like a hobo in the KFC tubs.

 

[greekgun]

well arent they stupid fucks

 

[akrinis]

I run a blog and I post on forums, and I regularly posted negative comments about my previous workplace. Should I be terminated for disclosing a public opinion that's negative? No, I don't think so.

 

[Kiim2507]

I got fired from Coles cos I made a facebook group called 'I work at Coles and it sucks' hehe
I was gonna quit anyway cos it truly did suck.

 

[dp624]

I run a blog and I post on forums, and I regularly posted negative comments about my previous workplace. Should I be terminated for disclosing a public opinion that's negative? No, I don't think so.

perhaps;
like, if it sucks so much, why still go?

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

I think if you were smart you would refrain from posting anything that would obviously spotlight you as a shit candidate for your chosen career. E.g. I'm gonna be a teacher so I'm not going to post jokes about pedophilia or child abuse on my facebook.

But photos or similar are really your own business. As long as you come to work sober and perform well why should your boss care that you go out on weekends and drink?

Besides, I would think most people would not put up/tag photos of themselves that show them in a really unflattering light. I know I go on untagging sprees the day after every party/night out so other people dont immediately see the really fugly shots that are always in there somewhere.

Also how bad can a drunken photo really be? So you're pulling a weird face or wearing a road cone as a hat or something, who cares? You're just having fun. If you had gotten naked and taken pictures exposing yourself to passing traffic or something well ok, your boss isn't exactly going to consider you promotion material, but its still your business and it shouldnt warrant getting fired or affecting you in any other way at your job unless you start doing it at work.

 

[akrinis]

perhaps;
like, if it sucks so much, why still go?

Obviously, it was because of the money. But you don't need to worry about that now because my days with them are over. I quit working for them and now I'm working at another workplace that IS SO MUCH BETTER.

I don't care what happens to it because they honestly don't even deserve to be running their restaurant if you know what they do to their food and how badly they treat us crew members.

 

[roller]

Its only happening because they need reasons to lay off employees.

There are a ton of companies here in the US using various reasons to lay people off. It's very pathetic IMO. The NFL laid off several thousand employees because of the "economic troubles" and the sport brought in record breaking income last year. Yeah "economic troubles" uh huh

 

[MaNiElla]

http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet-your-way-out-of-a-job/

I saw this exchange on Twitter, which is a painful lesson in how NOT to use Twitter in this tough economy.

A lucky job applicant tweeted the following:

Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

This tweet caught the attention of Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco. To which he responded:

Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.

Ouch! The person who dissed the Cisco offer quickly took their Twitter account private. But Twitter search retained the record.

Anyway, I just think that employers are kinda wasting their time when searching social networking sites, dont they already have enough work on their plate?

 

[MaNiElla]

Does anyone know how they would get access?

Presumably if you set your profile so that it can only be viewed by friends, employers can't access it.

However, it raises the possibility they could create a fake account and add you as a friend.

Well, you can sometimes see other peoples profiles on facebook if you belong to the same network, even if you are not freinds.

 

[SnowFox]

My art teacher had a profile on Myspace which he used to upload photo's of the schools Down hill team and help other students with questions about art.

A parent caught wind of this and forced their daughter to show the school the page or be pulled from the school and sent to a boarding school. The parents problem was the fact that students could receive help from the teacher out of school.

Nothing was wrong with the page, and we all gave consent to our photos being uploaded, heck i watermarked half of them.

The school found it wrong that the page was set up "posting pictures of students" "posting art that he done as part of the school administration." and "helping other students out of class."

He's a sodding Graffiti artist who likes action sports and helping students if they need the help. God forbid for trying to help a student, or am i going to have to catch up on 6 weeks of work during the next holidays because teachers cant teach in their given environment.

Onto Topic, If your stupid enough to post pictures of idiotic things on the net, why shouldnt you cop flak from the people paying you.

Then again im sure people posting these things thought their accounts were secure to outside entities.

 

[ZaraKu]

Privacy settings people... and don't add randoms unless your a fucking moron.

End of story

 

[withoutaface]

I think if you were smart you would refrain from posting anything that would obviously spotlight you as a shit candidate for your chosen career. E.g. I'm gonna be a teacher so I'm not going to post jokes about pedophilia or child abuse on my facebook.

But photos or similar are really your own business. As long as you come to work sober and perform well why should your boss care that you go out on weekends and drink?

Besides, I would think most people would not put up/tag photos of themselves that show them in a really unflattering light. I know I go on untagging sprees the day after every party/night out so other people dont immediately see the really fugly shots that are always in there somewhere.

Also how bad can a drunken photo really be? So you're pulling a weird face or wearing a road cone as a hat or something, who cares? You're just having fun. If you had gotten naked and taken pictures exposing yourself to passing traffic or something well ok, your boss isn't exactly going to consider you promotion material, but its still your business and it shouldnt warrant getting fired or affecting you in any other way at your job unless you start doing it at work.

What if my mate's got a roadcone protuding from his genital area and I'm blowing him?