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Should Your Employer Have Access to Your Facebook Account?

Neville Hobson — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:19:51 +0000

Yesterday, I read a report in the American magazine The Atlantic which asked the question Should Employers Be Allowed to Ask for Your Facebook Login?

It’s the story of a man in the US state of Maryland who applied for a job at the state’s Department of Corrections (prison service) and who was obliged to disclose his Facebook log-in credentials during the job interview. As The Atlantic tells it:

[...] According to an ACLU letter sent to the Maryland Department of Corrections [PDF file], the organization requires that new applicants and those applying for recertifications give the government "their social media account usernames and personal passwords for use in employee background checks."

Let’s get this straight: this particular organization is saying that if you want a job with them, you have to give them access to your Facebook account (and of your other social presences online) which means they can log into that account with your credentials, ie, as you. All for the stated purpose of conducting "employee background checks."

In an initial exchange of tweets about this story with Sue Llewellyn, one of my Twitter community, I said:

[...] I think there’s an ‘it depends’ answer in there somewhere re employer right to ask for login info.

What did I mean by that? Would an employer have any right to do what the Maryland Department of Corrections (DOC) is doing?

I clarify my comment by citing this statement from the ACLU’s letter:

[...] we believe the DOC policy constitutes a frightening and illegal invasion of privacy for DOC applicants and employees – as well those who communicate with them electronically via social media.

Neither Officer Collins nor his Facebook "friends" deserve to have the government snooping about their private electronic communications. Login information gives the DOC access to communications that are intended to be private, such as personal email messages and wall postings viewable only by those selected individuals who have been granted access. For social media users who maintain private accounts, the DOC demand for login information is equivalent to demands that they produce all of their private correspondence and photographs for review, or permit the government to listen in on their personal telephone calls, as a condition of employment. Such demands would be unconscionable, and there is no basis for treating electronic communications differently. While employers may permissibly incorporate some limited review of public internet postings into their background investigation procedures, review of password-protected materials overrides the privacy protections users have erected and thus violates their reasonable expectations of privacy in these communications.

That’s a well-stated position and argument supporting the reasonable rights of the individual to privacy, sentiments that I believe are equally viable here in the UK and in other countries in addition to the USA. Even (or perhaps especially) when employees ignore common sense and disclose far too much personal information in their online social networking profiles. And let’s not forget that access to someone’s account also means access to information about the friends that person is connected to.

The employer has reasonable rights, too, let’s not forget that either, as well as responsibilities to ensure the integrity, security and safety of the workplace, among many other things, for other employees as well as other people (children, for instance, in a school setting). Yet the only circumstances I can imagine where an employer is given access to an employee’s Facebook or any other online social presence account are either with the employee’s freely- and willingly-given permission, or under an order from a court of law. No matter what job someone is applying for, you don’t need the potential or actual employee’s social network log in details in order to do background checks that would satisfy such investigation. I can see no right for any organization to require login access to someone’s Facebook account a prerequisite for employment.

Incidentally, take a look at the comments to the story in The Atlantic – over 80 as I write this post, many with compelling arguments to support views highly critical of the DOC.

Do you agree that carte-blanche employer access to Facebook and other places online as described in this example must be off limits? Watch the video of Officer Robert Collins explaining the circumstances as he sees them.

What does it all say about the DOC’s understanding of what Facebook is and what people do with it?

What’s your take on this story?

Originally published on NevilleHobson.com

How Far Would You Go to Control Employee Social Media Use?

Chris Crum — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:47:51 +0000

CareerBuilder released some survey findings this week, indicating that over a third of employers in the U.S. are using social media to promote their company, but it’s employee use that still has some businesses worried.

A lot of companies are afraid to let their employees use social media freely, but they’re also afraid not to. On the one hand, there are obvious reputation and brand issues that could come up from irresponsible employees social media use, but on the flipside, some of those issues can be avoided with responsible employee social media use. Of course there are many other benefits as well.

This week, FaceTime Communications introduced a new tool called Socialite, which is a security management and compliance solution for social networks. Available in Software-as-a-service form or as on premises solution, its aim is to give companies control over social media features and communications for users on corporate networks.

A rep for the company says key benefits include the ability to: track users across multiple social media platforms; prevent data from leaving the company, either maliciously or inadvertently; empower IT admin to manage access to Facebook and its thousands of “applets” by category or individual application; manage access to features (ie, who can read, like, comment upon or access 95 distinct features on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter); control Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, so content is required to be pre-approved by corporate communications or other third party; empower IT admin to capture all posts, messages and commentary in context; and export to an archive of choice for eDiscovery.

"Organizations in regulated industries are faced with the need to manage the features used and content posted on social networks in order to protect themselves and their customers," said Erin Traudt, Research Director, Enterprise Collaboration and Social Solutions for IDC. "FaceTime’s heritage in the IM and Unified Communications markets should play well as communications move into the social arena, but still require security and compliance controls."

A lot of companies are simply creating social media policies and hoping employees abide. There’s no telling how often or how strictly these are actually enforced. I would guess that a lot of infractions get overlooked until they cause real damage.

Earlier this month, Megan C. Winter with law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP, suggested these 10 tips for employers who want to be proactive about employee issues arising out of social media:

1. Get familiar with Facebook, LinkedIn or other sites that are popular with your employees.
2. Update current company policies.
3. Consider whether your company environment needs a specific social media policy.
4. Prohibit use of the employee’s company e-mail address.
5. Discourage your managers from "friending" their subordinate employees.
6. Immediately get a copy of any post that is the subject of a complaint.
7. Only use social media for employment screening in a consistent way.
8. Warn managers to follow standard policies for recommendations on LinkedIn or other professional sites.
9. Be aware of possible protected, concerted activity.
10. Above all, use common sense.

Mashable posted another 10 tips for social media policies about a year ago, but they’re still relevant today:

1. Introduce the purpose of social media
2. Be responsible for what you write
3. Be authentic
4. Consider your audience
5. Exercise good judgment
6. Understand the concept of community
7. Respect copyrights and fair use
8. Remember to protect confidential & proprietary info
9. Bring value
10. Productivity matters

It will be interesting to see if more services like FaceTime’s start being used in corporations as time goes on and social media continues to become more unavoidable.

Would you use monitoring software to track employee social media use? Do you already? Let us know.

Survey: Email, Intranets Top Employer, Employee Communication

Chris Crum — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:57:20 +0000

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation and Xerox’s Buck Consultants have released findings from a survey looking at employer-employee communication.

Among the findings are that the most common communication vehicles organizations use to engage employees and foster productivity are email and intranets, 83% and 75% respectively. In addition, half of employers are communicating through Facebook, IM, and Twitter.

"This year’s respondents reported slight increases in use of social media tools, and more of them say they have established internal and external policies for appropriate workplace use of social media," said Robin McCasland, past chair, IABC Research Foundation. "When managed effectively, social media can be a great addition to an existing employee engagement strategy. Employees and job candidates alike can read employer news and anecdotes that reinforce a strong, positive culture."

"Listening to employees is essential to employee engagement and retention. Yet surprisingly, 32 percent of survey respondents indicate that their organizations rarely or never conduct employee listening activities," said Bruce Spiegel, principal at Buck Consultants. "This is a huge opportunity for organizations to mitigate their risk of employee turnover and diminished performance."

The survey was given to about 900 communication professionals. It did find that most top executives do not participate in internal or external social media.

LinkedIn Introduces Custom Profiles for Companies

Chris Crum — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:00:55 +0000

LinkedIn has launched new custom company profiles. These let companies and other organizations create rich, multimedia overviews of what they are all about for prospects to view and engage with.

The custom company profile displays content that company’s can easily tailor and update, and the content dynamically adapts to the viewers, based on their industry, job function, location, and seniority. This is good for targeting.

"Customers can target multiple groups with differing content, and refresh the content periodically (up to 12 times a year), says LinkedIn’s Prasad Gune. "The product offering also provides ways to drive users to the company profile. Companies can also receive monthly usage reports indicating ‘demographic’ information on visitors to the profile."

Here’s an example of what a custom company profile could look like:

The custom profile creates increased visibility for a company’s employment brand. A second tab appears on the company page for "careers," a Career Center module takes prominence, and it links to the company’s custom content on the Career Tab.

Company’s can include items like recruitment messaging that appeals to prospects on a personal level, employee spotlights, a polling feature, video clips, who to get in touch with, and links to the career site to help a candidate take action.

Yahoo Puts New Spin on the Recruiting Process

Chris Crum — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:56:12 +0000

Today Yahoo! released what it refers to as the first performance-based online recruitment product, Yahoo! HotJobs Pay Per Candidate. The new HotJobs feature lets recruiters pay for candidates instead of just per listing.

The idea is that this will help recruiters tie their dollars directly to their results. The recruitment community will get its first look at the product at the upcoming Society for Human Resource Management conference starting June 28 in New Orleans.

"Recruiters are being asked to find top talent using fewer resources than ever, and Yahoo!’s Pay Per Candidate model gives them the tools to increase the accountability of their listings," says Yahoo! HotJobs Vice President and General Manager Chris Merritt." With recruiters facing resume overload in today’s job market, the Pay Per Candidate solution will allow them to spend their time and budget on only the best candidates."

According to Yahoo’s site, Pay Per Candidate lets users:

- Closely manage costs for your online recruiting needs.

- Cap the number of Applies per job and re-allocate unused Applies to other jobs throughout the term of your contract.

- Save time, because when you use the HotJobs application process, you no longer have to evaluate candidates that haven’t been pre-screened by your questionnaire.

Recruiters can choose one of two application methods when using Pay Per Candidate: candidates complete the entire job application on the HotJobs site, or candidate clicks-through to their company’s hire site. With the first option, recruiters have the ability to pay only for pre-screened candidates. With the second, recruiters keep candidates on their career website for the application process.

More information about Pay Per Candidate can be found on this FAQ page (pdf). What do you think about the concept?

More Employers Using Social Networks To Screen Job Candidates

Mike Sachoff — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:53:25 +0000

More employers are screening potential job candidates by looking at their social networking profiles.

Twenty- two percent of hiring managers said they use social networks to research job candidates, up 11 percent, according to a survey of more than 3,100 employers from CareerBuilder.com Another 9 percent said they don’t use social networking sites to screen potential employees, but plan to start.

Among employers who have screened job candidates through social networking profiles, 34 percent said they had found content that caused them to dismiss the candidate from consideration.

Some of the major areas of concern for employers included candidates that posted information about them drinking or using drugs (41%), posting inappropriate photographs (40%) and badmouthing previous employers (29%).

Social networking profiles gave some job seekers an advantage with 24 percent of employers who researched job candidates social networking profiles found the content helped them to decide to hire the candidate.

Top influences on their hiring decision included the candidate’s background supported their qualifications for the job (48%), great communication skills (43%), and a good fit for the company’s culture (40%).

"Hiring managers are using the Internet to get a more well-rounded view of job candidates in terms of their skills, accomplishments and overall fit within the company," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com.

"As a result, more job seekers are taking action to make their social networking profiles employer-friendly. Sixteen percent of workers who have social networking pages said they modified the content on their profile to convey a more professional image to potential employers."