Jessica Klase
Professor Rowley
English 115
November 25, 2012
Your
Boss, You, and Facebook: The Office in a Technological World
Seeing your boss outside of work is awkward enough, but
imagine being friends with them on Facebook. This scenario is happening a lot
more frequently now because of the new trend in employers monitoring and being
active with their employees’ Facebook accounts. “Active monitoring of employees
has risen sharply in the past 4 years, from 35 % to 80 %” (Reh). Employers have
been looking at the social media cites that their employees use for many
reasons, but it isn’t right. Although monitoring employees through social media
could have serious benefits, like cutting office expenses due to theft and
ensuring the adherence to corporate policy, the negatives outweigh the
positives. Without outside monitoring, this ability could be severely abused
and lead to harassment. While technology does give opportunities to connect
with people in positive ways, the privilege will be abused without monitoring,
and this could damage professional relationships.
One important right to people is their privacy; people go
to great lengths to protect it. For the same reason, people expect their
privacy to be respected and left alone; however this privacy is infringed upon
when one is monitored through the internet. Bosses are not allowed to request a
read-through of an employee’s physical journal if they have one, or ask them
their religion, yet social media could give them that information. Even if that
information is given willingly, it is an invasion of privacy. Employees want to
retain privacy in the work place, but is this their right? F. John Reh, in his
article “Your Boss is Watching You”, argues that “As an employee, [your rights
are] very few.” Although employees believe this is their right, the right to
privacy is largely unexplored; however, employees are protected from inappropriate
infringements on privacy by many companies. Employees do have the right to look
at company policy to see if their employer is breaking it. In many cases,
companies are not allowed to monitor an employee’s social media and it
therefore is compromising their rights.
Although this is true, many would say looking at social
media sites allows employers to view the wider aspects of a person, such as
their interests and views on religion and politics. Social media allows employers
to see who the employees they’re behavior is unrestricted, as everyone does in
a professional environment. This is legal as long as company policy does not
protect against it. Social media gives the public an avenue to express their
opinions and ideas through the internet; access to this could enrich the
employer-employee relationship and in turn enrich the overall work environment.
This is to some extent already seen in the everyday work environment. “As a
supervisor allows for some jovial interaction while managing her staff, she can
also allow for such interchange online using social networking” (Lindsey). In
addition, allowing employers access to social media could potentially show them
which employees are more dedicated to the job and therefore deserve rewards
such as promotions and bonuses. Online it is easier to see how employees truly
act because people tend to be more transparent on their social media sites than
they would be to an employer. These claims are wrong because transparency would
irreparably damage the professional relationships needed in a work environment.
In an opposing view, when employers see employees
Facebook accounts there are many different legal aspects to consider. Company
policy is not the only thing to think about when privacy is invaded; state law
should be thought about as well. The particular state an employee works in
could have a law which may affect any legal proceedings that take place because
of invasion of privacy. Although these laws may exist, privacy is not always
considered a right, so in some instances social media monitoring may be legal
and effective. Employers already use a wide range of technologies to monitor
their employees, so social media is more like a new camera than anything else. Social
media is effective and should be used to ensure the safety of the company and
can also ensure that a company is not liable for any actions of another
employer. Although social media could, in fact, be a positive way to solidify
the company’s safety, it would come at too great a risk to the employee.
Protecting the company is one thing, but who makes sure
that the employee is safe? Camera systems have laws that keep the cameras from
being abused. “[Monitoring the use of] computer terminals, through electronic
and voice mail, and when employees are using the Internet. Such monitoring is
virtually unregulated” (Reh). In reality, the abuse of social media by
employers could go unnoticed by the general public because there is no
regulation. Without any monitoring, the execution of which would be complicated
and costly if not impossible, employers could harass, threaten, and even scare
their employees. Blackmail could become ever more possible and easier to
execute through social media. Then there is the problem of putting a monitoring
system into place, which would cost millions. How could you put a monitoring
system on the internet? Currently there is no way to delete anything from the
internet, or to even to control it; how could you monitor social media sites? Setting
up a monitoring system for the internet would be impossible, and even if there
could be a system it would be quite easy to get around. Small social media sites are not hard to set up;
an employer could potentially make joining and updating a social media site of
their own design a requirement for a job. These sites can be made for free and
would be almost impossible to prevent.
Another problem with employers being on social media
sites is that it could damage the professional relationships that need to exist
between and employee and an employer. In an office we restrict our behavior for
a reason, because we know what is appropriate there. On social media sites such
as Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter we do not restrict our behavior because it is
a space for friends and possibly family. Professional relationships rely on how
we act around others, which cannot be continued if your boss can pop into your
social media at any time of the day. There are many problems that can arise
because of friendships on Facebook and other sites, such as the ones presented
in “Social Networking, The Boss, and Employees”. This article shows the social
media can have a large impact on the work environment: “Favoritism, perhaps one
of the most deadly impressions that can occur among subordinates, is one. There
is no room for favoritism at work, and the same is true online” (Lindsey). Social
media use for the office can cause great tensions at work.
Other scholars may say that there are
many positive benefits that outweigh the negative. “Managers have an obligation
to their company to monitor the activities of their employees to ensure
compliance with applicable laws and policies” (Reh). If you monitor employees
at work then there are certain things that may need to be monitored while they
are away. Legal compliance can be quickly and effectively monitored through
social media and other devices. It is easy to catch someone stealing office
supplies if you have video cameras everywhere. Also at-work monitoring helps
productivity and saves much money. In addition, looking at social media sites
can alert an employer to an employee who is committing crimes at the workplace.
Employers can also assess the character of an employee from social media. “In general,
employers have the right to fire workers for off-color or unsavory things they
say when blogging (or Facebooking or Tweeting or Google-plussing) on the job or
about their job” (McCullagh). This utility of social media can prevent unsavory
behavior at the office by keeping unwanted characters out of the office.
These claims are true, but it does not make it ok to
monitor employees through social media. Although crimes such as theft, it also
enables other crimes like black mail. Personal lives and the office do not
belong together, which is why “office etiquette” has evolved. The use of social
media in the office forces employees’ personal lives and the office to
converge. Social media also can further discrimination, it would be much easier
to determine an applicants’ race, religion, or political affiliation if you
could simply look them up on Facebook before the interview ever happened.
Social media has no place in the office; it would only serve to destroy
professional relationships to circumvent our rights.
Although there are positives to using social media, the negatives
far outweigh the benefits. The work environment can become overwhelmed with
tension because of off-hand comments made on the internet, which happens all
the time in personal life. Without a monitoring system there is no way to know
if the sites are being abused, such as providing an avenue for blackmail, and
monitoring would be impossible to implement. Also with social media there is a
new danger of the employees seeing favoritism in the Facebook posts an employer
uses. Professional relationships would suffer greatly if social media becomes
widely used in an office environment. Overall if employers use social media it
will deteriorate the office environment as well as the business and the
employees professional relationship.
Works
Cited
LindseyJD. "Social Networking, The Boss, and
Employees." Www.techcrates.com. Techcrates, 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Nov.
2012.
McCullagh, Declan. "Does Your Future Boss Have
a Right to See Your Facebook Page?" News.cnet.com. Cnet, 6 Mar. 2012. Web.
19 Nov. 2012.
Reh, F. John. "Your Boss Is Watching You."
About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.
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