Is Employer Monitoring of Employee Social Media Justified?
Is Employer Monitoring of Employee Social Media Justified?
Bus 330 Social networks have been making a splash in the internet world over the past couple of years. In some studies into the monitoring of social media activity by employees has once again brought to light the various concerns and complaints that this contentious area inevitably generates. The idea of monitoring employees’ conversations has a certain Orwellian darkness that encourages accusations of privacy invasion and corporate spying. Indeed, some companies have taken this too far – some reportedly even requesting their employee’s Facebook login details. However, by and large the concept of employee monitoring – when done appropriately – seems to me to be relatively contentious.
Clearly, asking employees for their Facebook passwords is several steps over the line in terms of privacy, but many of the other questions that people have raised about this area seem to make a mountain out of a molehill. While employees unquestionably have a right to express themselves in private about any issue they choose, if that employee is expressing an opinion in a public forum about their employer then it immediately becomes an area of legitimate interest for that employer.
The key distinction seems to be between public and private. If an employee posts content in a private forum – for example their personal Facebook wall with security settings on – then it is not appropriate for a company to monitor that content. However, if an employee posts something mentioning their employer to an open twitter account, or on a public discussion board, then that content is open to all and is thus of legitimate interest to the employer.
The comparison with offline behaviour seems obvious. If an employee is talking to their friends in the bar about their work then that is their business and of no appropriate interest to the employer. However, if the same employee tells the same stories to a journalist then it
Bus 330 Social networks have been making a splash in the internet world over the past couple of years. In some studies into the monitoring of social media activity by employees has once again brought to light the various concerns and complaints that this contentious area inevitably generates. The idea of monitoring employees’ conversations has a certain Orwellian darkness that encourages accusations of privacy invasion and corporate spying. Indeed, some companies have taken this too far – some reportedly even requesting their employee’s Facebook login details. However, by and large the concept of employee monitoring – when done appropriately – seems to me to be relatively contentious.
Clearly, asking employees for their Facebook passwords is several steps over the line in terms of privacy, but many of the other questions that people have raised about this area seem to make a mountain out of a molehill. While employees unquestionably have a right to express themselves in private about any issue they choose, if that employee is expressing an opinion in a public forum about their employer then it immediately becomes an area of legitimate interest for that employer.
The key distinction seems to be between public and private. If an employee posts content in a private forum – for example their personal Facebook wall with security settings on – then it is not appropriate for a company to monitor that content. However, if an employee posts something mentioning their employer to an open twitter account, or on a public discussion board, then that content is open to all and is thus of legitimate interest to the employer.
The comparison with offline behaviour seems obvious. If an employee is talking to their friends in the bar about their work then that is their business and of no appropriate interest to the employer. However, if the same employee tells the same stories to a journalist then it