Monitoring The Personal Social Media Of Employees

The employer’s purpose is not only to protect their business but also to safeguard their employees. With the social media revolution, it can seem hard to lay down laws, but with proper guidelines and policies, employers and workers can feel at ease.

Companies must be diligent to ensure that workers do not reveal sensitive or confidential information via social media or use it to bully other employees or otherwise participate in illegal behavior. At the same time, businesses must also ensure that they do not interfere with the private lives of their employees.

In other words, harassment amongst employees via social media should be addressed by managers but employers should not snoop through the private accounts of their employees or pass judgment for anything that is not directly related to the company. 

Employers need to be careful regarding what information is found on the social media account of employees. If the employer chooses to use social media as part of their hiring process, they must be careful that the information they find is not unlawfully held against them. In other words, the employer cannot choose to deny the applicant a job opportunity because of their race, gender, religion, etc. If an employee is aware that their social media page has been used, they may argue that they have not been hired on the basis of any of these observations and that the matter may be brought before the court.

So, before hiring it is okay to check if the candidate is someone who uploads problematic posts and could possibly stir up trouble at work, but it may potentially be a problem if the employee feels like it’s a breach of privacy.

In conclusion, social media should be regulated but with certain limits.