Social Media In The Workplace
World population online; source: worldbank.org
Social Media sites are growing in popularity each day. One third of the world’s population is online (ITU, 2011). Many people that go online use sites like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and many others in order to keep connected with one another. As employees move discussions from the water cooler to the online world, organizations and employers are trying to adapt, and in the process, are creating policies that are invading privacy and in some cases, infringing on people’s rights.
People are fired by posting their opinions on social networks all of the time. Sometimes the reason is a legitimate like this one: “What?!?!?! No overnight homicide.... You’re slacking, Tucson,” a police reporter of the Arizona Daily Star said. Because the comment was not about working conditions, and did not display concerted activity, the firing was with proper cause. Other times company firings are without proper cause. In the case of the Michigan advertising agency, the company fired their website trainer for writing racy short stories online on his free time not at work. “No one should be fired for anything they post that’s legal, off-duty and not job-related,” Lewis L. Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute (Greenhouse). People should have the right to post whatever they want online whether it is about work conditions or about their life, companies should be more lenient when it comes to employees expressing their opinion about work and in general. Companies should not be firing people due to posting ‘racy’ short stories online in their spare time, companies should not care as much about the public image that their employer presents to society online, companies should care about how their employees contribute to the workplace and only step in if serious conflicts occur between employees online. Companies should give more freedoms to their employees to discuss about their work environment. Just like how discussions started around the water cooler years ago, the web is the new place where employees are discussing their opinions, and some companies are now taking notice and adapting to the shift in communication, some in a negative way.
People are fired by posting their opinions on social networks all of the time. Sometimes the reason is a legitimate like this one: “What?!?!?! No overnight homicide.... You’re slacking, Tucson,” a police reporter of the Arizona Daily Star said. Because the comment was not about working conditions, and did not display concerted activity, the firing was with proper cause. Other times company firings are without proper cause. In the case of the Michigan advertising agency, the company fired their website trainer for writing racy short stories online on his free time not at work. “No one should be fired for anything they post that’s legal, off-duty and not job-related,” Lewis L. Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute (Greenhouse). People should have the right to post whatever they want online whether it is about work conditions or about their life, companies should be more lenient when it comes to employees expressing their opinion about work and in general. Companies should not be firing people due to posting ‘racy’ short stories online in their spare time, companies should not care as much about the public image that their employer presents to society online, companies should care about how their employees contribute to the workplace and only step in if serious conflicts occur between employees online. Companies should give more freedoms to their employees to discuss about their work environment. Just like how discussions started around the water cooler years ago, the web is the new place where employees are discussing their opinions, and some companies are now taking notice and adapting to the shift in communication, some in a negative way.
Employers ask job applicants for their Facebook password; source: hlntv.com
More and more employers are now realizing that social networks are “the new water coolers” for discussing about work conditions and other things pertaining to the workplace. One of the ways that companies are trying to adapt and help prevent workers from leaking inside information of the company to the online world, is having more “thorough” interviews with job applicants to see what kind of personality the job applicant displays to friends and the public. Employers are now asking for passwords from applicants who have an account with social media sites like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. These companies are using their passwords to look at what kind of information if any is discussed about the company and how the potential employee displays their ‘image’ online. Should employers have the right to ask for private information like passwords for social media accounts online? Wouldn’t this action be considered an invasion of privacy and go against employee’s basic rights of the workplace? In Washington state, the House Labor Committee disagrees. An amendment is in the making that would allow employers to ask for login information from employees if a company-wide investigation, or an accusation of employee misconduct occurs online. The irony is that this addition was made to a proposed bill that prevents employers from asking employees for their social network passwords (Valdes). At this time, whether employees can ask for password information from employees is handled at the state level and is not yet banned at the national level. However, six states including Illinois and California have set up laws that prevent employers from asking job applicants for their passwords (Kerr). Congress is also considering passing the Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA) which will prohibit employers and schools from asking for login information for their social media accounts (Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP). Another way companies are trying to gain back control is monitoring more of what employees do while at work online.
NLRB logo; source: nlrb.gov
Depending on the work environment, social networking can improve the overall workflow of companies and expansion of the company. Allowing social media sites to be accessed and used at work can allow employees to give feedback for the company, improve the workflow of the company by allowing managers to post deadlines for projects, customer feedback, the areas to be improved on within the company, and plans to achieve their goals. Also, companies can use social networks like Facebook and Google+ to share new ideas for what the company could work on, for example new projects, new advertising methods, etc, in the future (SHRM, 2012). In big and small companies, using the chat feature or private messaging features of these web applications can help employees troubleshoot problems like bugs or glitches in applications necessary for work, to is more on Social networking not only helps within the company, but externally as well. Company employees can use social networking to create better relationships with clients, as well as display a positive public image to consumers. The National Labor Relations Board agency is in charge of protecting the rights of employees in the United States which are enlisted under the National Labor Relations Act, as well as the monitoring and reworking of policies for all public companies and some private companies with the exception of employees working for the government both federal and state, an independent contractor, a parent or family, or by an airline company or railroad company. The Board also sets regulations set within the working environment (Employee Rights | NLRB). In recent years, the agency has been pushing companies like General Motors, Dish, and Target to rework their social media policies to allow employees to be more vocal about their workplace online (Greenhouse). In General Motors policy, this is what is discussed, “If you engage in discussion related to [GM], in addition to disclosing that you work for [GM] and that your views are personal, you must also be sure that your posts are completely accurate and not misleading.” In the case of Dish, their social media policy was in violation of the employee right to talk about their work conditions with this line from their policy: "disparaging or defamatory comments about [DISH], its employees, officers, directors, vendors, customers, partners, affiliates, or our, or their, products/services." In the case of Target, they crossed the line with this part of their policy: "release confidential guest, team member or company information." The National Labor Relations Board has given recommendations to each of these companies to rework these parts of their social media policies. All but GM has taken those recommendations and implemented them within their policy. July 5, 1935 was when the NLRB was formed. As time has evolved, so has what the NLRB is involved with has evolved with as well. In the last five years, the NLRB’s role has been adapting policies related to the use of communication online between employees inside and outside the work environment. They realize the benefits that can come with allowing more open discussion about working conditions online, one of the core principles of the NLRB which is allowing workers to discuss their work environment more freely without being scrutinized. They realize that the world is moving towards a more socially connected future and are in support of this movement.
Social media services can be beneficial to all companies if the company sets up plans ahead of time about what parts of their workflow could be improved by using services like Facebook, Google+, and Twitter in the workplace. The mentality of social networks being ‘unproductive’ and ‘distracting’, while true, is only true if they aren’t implemented within a company’s workflow. In terms of social media policies, companies should have less prohibitive ones, meaning not to monitor every keystroke an employee makes and how much time is spent in each application or website on the company computer. However, companies should still be able to monitor what contacts are being emailed to on a company email account and the contents of an email to prevent misconduct and bad company relations with the public, as well as with other companies. The NLRB should continue reworking company policies and adding more narrow guidelines when it comes to expressing opinion and communication between employees online. By having more freedom of opinion online for workers, and for realizing the benefits that all companies can gain by incorporating social media services within the work environment, it will lead to in some cases for companies a more dominant position internationally as well as locally, as well as make employees feel more comfortable working without the feeling of being watched over for every action they do.
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