Monitoring Employees Social Media Activity

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The subject of monitoring the job applicants’ and employees’ social media activities by employers is a debatable one. According to Kumar (2015), 52% of companies check the social media profiles of job applicants before hiring them. While it is understandable, it may lead to legal troubles between employees within the organization and can raise several ethical issues, such as discrimination and encroaching personal freedom. Moreover, it wastes time, because most of what employees do on social media is not related to their work and their organizations (Maltby, 2014). On the other hand, social media when not well managed opens the door to numerous risks – breach of confidentiality, conflicts of interest, misuse of company resources … (Lunday, …show more content…

On the contrary, when employees know that their profiles are being monitored they may feel rage and distrusted, and may retaliate by using fake accounts to post content that is harmful to their organization. There is also the problem of bias (Kumar, 2015). Some employees do not hire people because of the political views, religious beliefs, race, gender, age, sexual orientation... Many employees lost their jobs because their personal values didn’t match those of their employer (Maltby, 2014). Such discrimination may deny an organization from talented employees and consequently fail to have a competitive advantage in the market. Social media can be a medium to express personality… which is naturally linked to creativity (Kumar, 2015). Organizations that encourage creativity can be more profitable and competitive. So, restricting employees’ freedom can restrict their creativity. An employee likes to see that his/her organization has integrity and respects and trusts its employees. Therefore, as much as the organization shows its employees how trusted they are and that their contributions to the organization are highly recognized and valued, the more the employees will behave responsibly on social media regarding their work and their organization (Kumar,

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