What do they all have in common? Well, they have dismissed folks because of their social media posts. We live in a day of instant and (mostly) unfiltered communication. I deal with employee social media issues almost weekly now. Many of these issues are related to inappropriate messages, tone and words…some even pictures. People lose jobs. Smart kids lose scholarships. Relationships end. With the new polarizing political climate, I see even more (on both sides) worrisome content being posted. We live in a new world.
Additionally, the push for everything on one device is not helping – meaning your “Friday night out” phone is also your business phone which means your college buddies and your current coworkers are both in your contacts – a recipe for disaster with the audience size these days. Facebook has over a billion eyeballs, Twitter can explode virally in an instant with the wrong message, LinkedIn is becoming more and more personal. More users, faster uptake, quicker criticism, more issues … just ask United Airlines.
What protections do we have? First Amendment – mostly designed to protect us from the government – not private companies. The NRLB offers some protections – mostly limited to organizing activities. Retaliation protections are very specific - a number of federal and state laws protect employees from retaliation for reporting certain types of problems (discrimination, harassment, unsafe working conditions, and so on), off-duty conduct laws exist in some states (prohibiting employers from disciplining employees for what they do on their personal time), and even less states provide protection from discipline for posting political beliefs or activities. These are generally work-related.
What I am speaking about today are personal thoughts, comments and photos - as Forrest Gump stated so eloquently, “stupid is as stupid does.”
- From an article in People magazine, “I had to fire someone for this. He was a volunteer firefighter and left for a call which I allowed. Fifteen minutes later someone showed me his five minute-old post of him riding quad-runners saying something along the lines of ‘Sometimes you just need to F-off from work.’ That put him on a final warning. He then left because he said HIS house was on fire then half-an-hour later his wife tagged him in a photo of him sitting in a kiddie pool in front of his house. The funny thing is, in both cases, if he had simply asked to leave early I probably would have said yes.”
- From an article on CNN.com, Carly "@CarlyCrunkBear" McKinney, a tenth-grade math teacher, had a very controversial Twitter account that the school she worked for discovered. Her employers were not happy and placed her on administrative leave. Her students thought her racy photos and tweets about marijuana and club music were pretty cool, though, and protested online to get her back. She was fired in the end.
- From the NY Daily News, “Bank of America employee fired after racist Facebook rant, thousands of social media complaints sent to her bosses.”
- And finally, from Harvard (courtesy of ABC news), “At least 10 students kicked out of incoming Harvard class due to racist, inappropriate memes.”
It could become the next great piece of parental advice, following “don’t run with scissors” and “eat your vegetables” – let’s add “be careful what you post.” As managers get smarter about social media (and Facebook privacy settings change/update daily) it is increasingly silly to assume that those old (college??) photos of you double-fisting shots won't come back to haunt you—and maybe even wreak havoc on your career. An incredible 93% of recruiters check out social media profiles of prospective hires. So, remember your boss, co-workers, clients, and hiring managers can see your most polarizing tweets, even if they aren't following you. And even if your Facebook profile looks like a vault, anyone can see images you're tagged in. Type in "photos of Dave Harmon (or your name may be more exciting)" into the search window and see what Facebook shows you. Surprised?
Among the most common reasons cited to CareerBuilder for turning down candidates:
- Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information (53 percent)
- Candidate posted content about them drinking or using drugs (44 percent)
- Candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients (35 percent)
- Candidate showed poor communication skills (29 percent)
- Candidate made discriminatory comments (26 percent)
- Candidate lied about qualifications (24 percent)
- Candidate shared confidential information from previous employer (20 percent)
So, what are some examples you probably should not post? Well, this is not a scientific list like CareerBuilder, but let’s start with examples: too many drinking photos or other substances (you know those photos – think New Year’s Eve, THAT wedding, etc.), complaints about your current or past employers (“Acme Co. has no clue”), making fun of your boss (“Dave is a real …”), making fun of prospective companies (“doing nothing today, just working because of the paycheck”), enjoying the good life posts/photos when you call in sick (“look at me skiing at Whiteface while my coworkers are at their desks”), confidential or time-sensitive information (“we are going public tomorrow”), overly personal information (think TMI from some of your friends this past weekend), and the most amusing “look what I got away with” posts.
Remember, once it is posted – it is always posted. How many celebrities have posted something, then took it down 30 seconds later and people already have screenshots? How many people have lost jobs or careers due to poor choices? How many posts can be copied and/or forwarded? How will your words come across?
Ask yourself "would I be embarrassed if someone saw this in the future?" These days, anything you post can very quickly go viral and be passed on to thousands of people. There really aren't any secrets on the wide world of the inter-webs. You might think that your meaning is clear when you post a comment, but it's easy for misunderstandings to occur. Even posting on your Facebook that you're going away on vacation is advertising that your house is going to be empty. It's best to behave as if everything you post can be viewed by the whole world. This can save you from a lot of future embarrassment – or that dreaded call from Grandma….
Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr
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