Employee social media: Should employers monitor it?

 Employee social media: Should employers monitor it?

The world of the web has created a virtual world where virtually everyone has recently lived. The presence of social media like Facebook and Twitter has given every individual the opportunity to comment on everything in the sun.  

 They even share a glimpse of their personal life and the thoughts that run through their hearts. The ease of virtual presence brings good and bad things, both personally and professionally. 

  Even while in employment, the employer conducts some background checks on the person's virtual existence. They tend to see what their potential candidates are doing in the online world. Even the debate against companies monitoring employee social media is still going on. 

  People are posting a lot of personal stuff online around the world, but employers are concerned about whether it will hurt their business. They will delve into the person's life and find something that does not meet the standards of the organization. But is it justified for employers to monitor employees' social media? 

 Monitoring employee social media activities at work: 

1. A waste of time: 

 Monitoring social media accounts is a waste of time if your company has a large number of employees. If the employer intends to monitor the social media of all working employees, it is a waste of valuable time that the employer could have used elsewhere and brings better benefits. 

 Those familiar with the use of social media ensure that businesses use strict privacy settings that do not allow them to dig up information. Another possibility is for an employer to create a fake account and mislead the company into misleading information. 

 Finding the right account and running it isn't worth the time your business wastes, but you need to put the same energy into your business and people's growth.

 

2. Too much control: 

 The idea of ​​managing the lives of employees is dangerous. Organizations need to understand when to end this control over their employees. Social media is primarily an informal platform, a form of expression for people to express their thoughts and feelings. 

 Important controls can affect an employee's personal life and can undermine their creativity. The company needs to understand those creative people are what bring growth to the company. Also, what employees do overtime should be an organizational concern. 

 After the office, it's their own time. In any case, if your employer finds something wrong with your company, it's a good idea to let them know when you hire.

3. Loss of trust: 

 There is a certain amount of trust between the employer and the employee. When one tries to break into the other space, trust tends to be lost. Therefore, employers need to know where the boundaries between work and personal life begin and end. 

 Indeed, where employers and employees are clear about the details and information they are exposed to, some boundaries need to be set. 

 We recommend that you notify your employees in advance of such activities of social media monitoring by your employer so that you can gain some trust. 

4. Reputation at stake: 

 When an organization believes it interferes with the lives of its employees, it tends to create a negative image of the company in the recruitment market. In that case, it is difficult for employees to trust such a company, and the company may have a hard time finding the right person for them. 

 By allowing employees to live their lives, companies prove that they are embraced by their identities and focused solely on their professional roles. 

  The company then establishes rules and regulations that employees should follow for the benefit of the company without disturbing their personal lives. 

 5. Source of creativity: 

 Social media is also a source of inspiration for people around the world to talk to each other without having to meet in person. They exchange ideas and ideas. 

 When someone sticks to an idea or is looking for something to inspire them, many people tend to connect through social media to find relevant ideas and answers. This improves work efficiency rather than over-monitoring and restraining employee creativity. Companies can agree on the terms of what goes online and what doesn't produce results. Creative employees can work to grow the company and provide good ideas.

6. Free ads: 

 Social media is a great source of advertising and reaches people without investment. Encourage employees to promote their organization, product, or other product. This will allow something to spread online later and increase the popularity of the company. 

  Hiring another agency to do this job is an additional cost, and realizing your people's potential can bring more benefits than losses. Companies need to understand how to leverage social media through their employees, rather than blocking or over-scrutinizing their use. 

7. Benefits of cooperation: 

 Instead of discouraging employees from using social media, you can better take advantage of the positive aspects. For example,  creating a company Facebook page or Twitter account allows employees to meet and meet other people who work for the organization. This will help you build a better network and strengthen your company.  

 People working in different cities can get to know each other through the official website. Whether your company has new developments or news to share, social media is effective in sharing news and keeping employees up-to-date with events. Within the organization.  

8. Your company's PR: 

 If your company gets too disturbed in the lives of your employees, it can result in employees swearing at the company on social media platforms. 

 No matter how much we try to curb these practices, technology is smarter, and people are finding ways to express their feelings, keeping in mind that young employees are dependent on social media. 

  This may reflect the poor public image of your company. Because everyone has a fundamental right to freedom of expression.

Three Reasons for Employee Social Media Monitoring: 

 1. Impact on work: 

 Companies may need to monitor social media activity, especially in the office. Many employees tend to spend a lot of time on social media, which is a loss for companies that pay their employees for their work. 

 It's okay to access social media once in a while, but it's not appreciated to put all the work aside and spend time solely on social media. 

 All employers expect their employees to work for the growth and benefits of the company and ensure that they pay them good salaries and benefits. And if you don't get results accordingly, it's a waste of money for your employer. 

2. Reputation management: 

 Employees need to be able to express their feelings online, so it's just as important for companies to keep up with their reputations. From time to time, employees tend to say the wrong thing about their employer out of total anger, or they don't go with their manager for some reason. 

 In the long run, false allegations filed on social media can harm an organization. Therefore, it is important to take timely actions to discourage employees from doing so. Employers do not want to pay too much attention to their employees' online behavior, but regular oversight is important whenever a company's reputation is at stake. 

  3. To protect confidentiality: 

 Occasionally or rarely, some employers can leak sensitive information or the company online, which can interfere with the company in various ways. In that case, the employer must maintain limited control over it to prevent the employer from sharing the data publicly. 

 Protecting the privacy of a company's activities is equally important to all employees and is a breach of employee trust. If the company finds relevant data that it shares on social media, it can take appropriate action against it.

Four legitimate ways companies monitor employee social media: 

 1. Create an official written policy. 

 Since social media life has become a part of everyone's daily life, it is important for organizations to formally establish written rules on social media as well. This informs potential candidates of what the Code of Ethics expects from employers. 

 Written rules may refer to the limited scope of supervision and the consequences of someone violating these rules. Clear images also set boundaries to prevent employees from posting random or false information about your organization online.  

2. Protect sensitive information.

 

 Companies need to set strict rules on their social media policies to prevent employees from posting confidential business or financial developments to the company. 

 Also, while working with the company, make a clear statement about the ownership of the company's various social media accounts. 

 For example, the person who manages your company's social media account may later be represented as your account. Therefore, clarifying ownership of the rule will help in such cases later.

3. Do not ask for a password. 

 Companies that ask for passwords for new employees' social media accounts are seeing a new trend. This is a company trust breach, password, and other code that is personal to each employee and used for their benefit. Therefore, the company does not have the right to request a password. 

 Please be sure to state this in writing while the candidate joins the company. In the future, if employees tend to blame the company for privacy infringement, the employer has written evidence of that.

 4. Implement social media rules on a regular basis. 

 Make sure to share it with all managers throughout your organization, including social media rules, during training for new employees. The rules need to educate employees about the pitfalls of social media abuse, especially concerning limited tracking of organizational accounts. Alternatively, contacting a competitor to share sensitive information may result in strict action against the competitor. 

 Employers need to keep their employees happy while keeping the company safe, but to do so, both sides need to maintain a certain discipline.

Conclusion: 

 Like all the inventions and technologies that emerge, the social media boom has its strengths and weaknesses. At some point, it can benefit a company and sometimes affect its image and effective use when needed for the rapid development of the world. 

 

 The understanding that needs to be built between employers and employees for sound long-term relationships and all kinds of bitterness is not good for either. Over 44% of companies track their employees' social media, and about 71% block their use of social media during business hours. 

 

 These rules can fail because the social media platform is still a vague channel despite its popularity, and the social media platform has not yet established basic guidelines.

Have a look on the following

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of2aSU9MXuM&t=65s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfgTJ_BS_88