How much should your company/people in general you work for respect your internet privacy?

[Shaissa]

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but here in America, I am sure people have heard of people getting fired for stuff that ends up getting posted on facebook, twitter... whatever else you have.

I didn't think much of it until last night when a friend got fired for some photos of him that got posted on twitter and the company higher ups got wind of it, basically he posted a picture of himself drinking, right after work and said "after the shitty day I had at (he named the company) this is what I need!"

And on the news not too long ago, (Halloween time) someone dressed up like a "terrorist" and got lots of backlash and death threats from facebook, to mail.

So right now does your company have any rules against such acts? do you find these rules fair? should companies respect your "privacy" on the internet?

How about people in general? should they respect your privacy? or do they have the rights to say what they want? Going as far as death threats?

 

[iSmiff]

Yeah, on the one side your work life should be judged on your professionalism inside the workplace unfortunately it isn't. More and more companies are firing people in based on social media due to the threat of the opinion that unprofessional behaviour outside of the workplace could come back to haunt the company. Odd, but true.

Most people keep their privacy settings high when jobseeking, it's because now more than ever it's easier to do background checks on their potential recruits via facebook and twitter etc.

That sucks that your friend got fired; I imagine he's learnt his lesson though and changed his privacy setting! My trainer from where I work has me on facebook. I might have to get rid of him (especially since he's two faced. He was all buddy buddy in training but now he's so snide and spiteful... eurgh)

In terms of Halloween; that's a pisstake too. A footballer in the UK dressed up as a 'Jagerbomber' and was forced to make a public apology. I don't know if anyone remembers the debacle surrounding prince harry dressing up as a nazi at halloween a couple of years back. How that is newsworthy is beyond me. The problem with social media is people can intimidate people easier than ever before. Death threats don't need a known address anymore, the sad fact of it is that so many keyboard warriors think it isn't a big deal to threaten someones life over the internet.

 

[Ilyena]

How exactly does one dress up like a terrorist?

Typically when you are hired for a job (at least in the US and for larger companies), somewhere in all that paperwork they give you, they let you know that you are supposed to conduct yourself in a manner that does not negatively affect the company or their image, even outside of work. So yeah, him basically putting the company's name out there and talking about having a shitty day at work while posting a picture of him with a beer doesn't exactly reflect positively on the company so no surprise that they canned him. He should take it as a lesson learned and try not to put company business on the internet.

 

[Six]

I think your personal life and professional life should be private, and completely private. I remember when I got fired at my job at McDonalds, I saw our restaurant manager publicly asking one of the girls that had called in sick, why she had called in sick, and this and that, publicly on Facebook. I thought it was distasteful and disrespectful to ask about her situation like that. If he was so concerned, give her a call, if she doesn't pick up, call later. I do not think she has to give him an explanation to anything on a social media site. He also stated "I'm disappointed with you". Ridiculous in my opinion. No need for him to put that out there.

If you're a party girl/guy on your off days, and you're professional at your times at work, that is no one's business. If you come to work and you do what you're supposed to do, then who are they to tell you otherwise? I'll be damned if you have to keep your work in mind when you go home. Too many people dealing with burn-outs because of work pressure, myself included, and I'm not even working right now, but in the process of looking for a job you feel paranoid and low on self-esteem as is. They shouldn't worry themselves with what you do outside of your office, they should worry about making their workplace a better place to be, and minding what they should be minding, which is exactly that; their work or their personal life when at home.

 

[Harlequin]

How exactly does one dress up like a terrorist?

Typically when you are hired for a job (at least in the US and for larger companies), somewhere in all that paperwork they give you, they let you know that you are supposed to conduct yourself in a manner that does not negatively affect the company or their image, even outside of work. So yeah, him basically putting the company's name out there and talking about having a shitty day at work while posting a picture of him with a beer doesn't exactly reflect positively on the company so no surprise that they canned him. He should take it as a lesson learned and try not to put company business on the internet.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

If you don't want to be scrutinised in public by friends, colleagues and employers keep your business private.

Taking a sick day off work might be your private life but it affects your professional life because you haven't turned up for work. In the UK a manager is fully within their rights to demand an explanation as to why the employee hasn't turned up to work and even require a doctor's note to verify. Obviously every company will have their procedures and guidelines when dealing with these things but I don't think via Facebook is appropriate.

 

[Ilyena]

I think your personal life and professional life should be private, and completely private. I remember when I got fired at my job at McDonalds, I saw our restaurant manager publicly asking one of the girls that had called in sick, why she had called in sick, and this and that, publicly on Facebook. I thought it was distasteful and disrespectful to ask about her situation like that. If he was so concerned, give her a call, if she doesn't pick up, call later. I do not think she has to give him an explanation to anything on a social media site. He also stated "I'm disappointed with you". Ridiculous in my opinion. No need for him to put that out there.

I will completely agree with you that asking someone why they weren't at work over Facebook is completely ridiculous and unprofessional.. I think in this day and age of social media, people often forget how to conduct themselves professionally. I agree that if he had any issues with her calling in sick, it should have been handled one on one and not in a public forum.

I think the the situation with OP's friend is different though since he mentioned the company's name and put the company in a negative light. Even if it weren't on the internet, if he was going around publicly decrying how horrible the company was to work for, the result would have surely been the same.

 

[Paddy McGee]

I think if a post on social media is specifically degrading and insulting towards the company or employees in the company you work in, I think that's a reason for the company to get involved. I don't think it's worth getting the sack over, but I do think you should avoid naming names of specifics. Like "So and so was a bollocks today" or "Fakers.inc has a shitty HR department" isn't something I think you should put up on the internet.

But, in saying that, saying that you had a shitty day at work isn't particularly bad. It's not pointing out any of the faults in the company, or slandering any sort of employee. You're just saying you had a bad day, imo.

Then again, I don't think you should ever specify places or people over the internet if you're there to moan. Hell, i think you should stay away from the internet in general if you're angry.

Of course, the situation Six spoke about is different. I think that's interfering with private life on the managers account. Whatever happened to trusting the word of an employee? Sure, some people do act the bollocks and pull a "sickie" but inquesting to why they couldn't come in-over facebook- is silly. Surely anyone would have the common sense to discuss work matters like that in private?

And-finally- I reckon the stereotype for a "Terrorist" is a Arab-looking man, with a turban and bushy beard.

Or would it be a Korean now?

Look at the action movies, they usually tell you who the "bad guys" are.

It's all too PC for me...

 

[Shaissa]

Can't find the image...

But the guy dressed like a stereo-type Arab, the turban and such (which might of been just a towel and such.

He then had spay painted a couple pop bottles black and taped them around himself and wrote "Bomb",on them in red.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

i had to sign a form when i started my job, which stated that i wouldn't act in a way on social media that might bring the company into disrepute. i think it's quite fair really, because in this modern age we are all connected - pretty much constantly. it's easy to find out what your friends, family, and colleagues are up to right at this instant, and of course this is going to leak into your professional life. if you saw a friend on facebook slating their workplace for being a crap place to work, then you're going to form a negative opinion of that particular company, whether sub-consciously or not. it's perfectly understandable why this is becoming common practice.
social media also allows employers to do more extensive background checks on potential new employees (in theory). this means they can find out if you act in a befitting manner outside of the workplace. it's all well and good giving a good first impression in your interview, but of course in theory, the more data available, the more informed the decision is.

i suppose at the end of the day it comes down to being a highly ethical matter. does your employer have any right to look up every detail of your private life outside of work? not at all. but it is entirely understandable, and to an extent fair, why they would do so. the better question is is it right to censor any content on the internet? if you want as much privacy as possible on the internet, then it's all up to you. facebook is only as private or public as you make it, and the same goes for blogs and other social media. think before you write something.

 

[Dionysos]

I’d never moan about work on Facebook or anything. That said, I wouldn’t moan about much on there at all. But in principle, if I did, it’s sometimes a bit silly that I should be worried about who sees it in a professional sense. My personal life my own, as is anybody else's. I wouldn't think any less of a manager for their personal interests and hobbies and opinions outside of the work place. Surely the existence of life in the world out there should be a reassuring thing.

It’s a sign of the times, I guess. But since people often moan about all sorts on Facebook and I don't think I moan about anything, I think I’m safe. Unless I’m not. Who knows!

Though as Cookie-Adam states, stating that you have had a bad day at work is not necessarily a negative attack on the company, as all people have bad days at work, even high management. It's only a slightly more specific way of saying 'I've had a bad day'. It is perhaps wisest to avoid stating this sort of thing, since it might come back and bite you, but I wouldn’t state that this sort of generic message is too extreme.

As for private and personal matters? That gets quite ridiculous.
I’d rather keep private things private, and I tend to generally do this to the point that very few people get to know me much at all. But I’d not think it fair to restrain and restrict my personal life because of keeping up a particular image for work. The two should not need to combine outside of work. It is a job. It is employment for monetary gain to help sustain our existence on this Earth, or for personalised career interests, and it is not supposed to enslave the very essence of our souls and character. Life attempts to squeeze every last ounce out of us at any sneaky opportunity, and I’m damned if I’m to restrict myself further just for the sake of keeping up an image. Luckily I don’t do many silly things, but I’m talking about in principle. If I wanted to do something on my own watch, and it doesn't harm anybody else or isn't illegal, that should be entirely up to me.

That said, I don’t tend to get up to anything particularly crazy, and I’m quite a quiet person. I don’t talk openly on Facebook about things, and probably need to do that sort of thing more so than anything else (not work related, obviously). But the principle of having to tone down my character 24/7 seems unfairly restrictive.

Particularly if it is for fear of a company I’ve applied for stalking my Facebook page for any little thing they can find. So what if they go onto my Facebook? They’ll see that I’ve recently graduated, again, a couple of people have sent me some links to various things, a few family related things have happened since I am but mortal and have familial attachments, and they might notice that a year ago I went to a party dressed as the god Dionysos. Nothing too sinister. People have done worse and have risen to higher places.

Life is no crime.

 

[iSmiff]

Is it really putting the company in the negative light if you say you had a shit day at work? Unless I misunderstood; it's not like they said 'I hate my job and the company is shit' - everyone has bad days do they not?

 

[Ilyena]

Everyone has bad days and what he said could have been a lot worse but he never should have put the company's name out there in his post. To the higher-ups in the company, it looks bad and who's to say he has not done it before or won't do it again and say worse. It's not his discretion as to what whether what he's saying makes the company look bad, it's the company's discretion.

 

[AuronX]

First off, let's not confuse privacy and poor behavior. Before you go pointing fingers at your company for firing you after you did something stupid and wrote about it on Facebook, maybe you shouldn't have done something stupid or posted about it. That aside, never ever connect your personal social media accounts with your workplace. Just don't fill in the blank for where you work. If you filled yours in, go clear it out. As soon as you publicly proclaim that you work somewhere in particular, you no longer own that social media profile. You set yourself up as a 24/7 company representative, and you have to live up to that role.

Now, if your personal accounts across the web are not linked to or interacting with your company, then they in turn have no business linking their accounts across the web with you. It's not a matter of there being some kind of animosity between employers and employees, but just simply making a distinction between work life and personal life.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

Is it really putting the company in the negative light if you say you had a shit day at work? Unless I misunderstood; it's not like they said 'I hate my job and the company is shit' - everyone has bad days do they not?

i meant it in a more extreme way than just saying "i've had a bad day." i meant it more like "i hate my job, it's a shit place to work."

 

[Koloth]

To be honest, all I do on Facebook is play games. Facebook obviously is not the place to be writing diaries and crap. What I don't get is that it expects you to create an account with your real name. I honestly do not get why we cannot use alias. I bet a lot do that. Create a name that appears real and is actually an alias. Also, you can makeup any crap in your profile.

Somebody mentioned threatening a person's life on the internet. I actually know a 16 year who got arrested for posting a death threat to a classmate on his email. You would be surprised how much trouble you can get into by doing something stupid on the net.

 

[Ultimaja]

How exactly does one dress up like a terrorist?

They succeed because they look like everyone else. They won't wear traditional clothes because their 'holy mission' outweighs the ordinances of Islam.

But I suppose if one had really made cause for concern, they probably had a fake bomb attached to them. I can see how that would upset people, but only in the overly reactive society we live in.

So yeah, him basically putting the company's name out there and talking about having a shitty day at work while posting a picture of him with a beer doesn't exactly reflect positively on the company so no surprise that they canned him. He should take it as a lesson learned and try not to put company business on the internet.

Leaving somebody without a source of income based on that is just plain dirtball, it can't really be painted another way in my opinion.

Honestly, they probably had been looking for a reason to fire the person for a while. Businesses will do that, and most do it often.

 

[Shenorai]

People simply fail to realize that the internet is a completely public place that anyone could pop in and see, be it by simply clicking on one's profile or through another one of your contacts.

Assuming that anything you post online is kept private is ridiculous, even with the supposed "privacy settings". Once the data is released into cyberspace, it's no longer under your complete control. Words, pictures, videos, etc. travel far faster than one anticipates once something is published online. Failure to realize that what you post online can come back to bite you in the ass is no one's fault but your own.

It's thanks to today's social media networks that companies such as Wal-Mart have specific policies regarding what you share online. Didn't pay attention to the policies when you signed up? That's your fault. Posting stuff regarding your workplace anyway? That's your fault.

If your workplace has a social media policy that you did not adhere to, that is no one's fault but your own. In an era where information on nearly anything can be brought up with a simple search and click, you can bet your ass that your boss will be curious to see if his/her underlings are following the rules they agreed to.

 

[Yaoi Master Gavin]

Unless there's something in the contract/whatever you signed when you were hired or when it got renewed over the course of your work because you work in public relation etc., your workplace has absolutely no business being on your social media whatsoever. Personally, I've never been able to get a job, partly because I go to college full-time and the places around here don't get a damn about your class schedule and partly because around here, you're lucky to find a job as a homeless person in the first place. It helps also that I don't have a social media thing outside of youtube and even ont here I use aliases, just like I do here and my other RP forum. My personal life and professional life are completely separate and I intend to keep it that way; on the rare times they merge it because you assholes in the professional arena made the first move.