There are several
dimensions to the question of privacy and how it plays into our work-life (and I may talk about more of them in future blog posts) but here I want
to address the issue of what I call the “always there” trend. The trend itself
is not all that new. Since the invention of email and laptops employees and
managers have felt an increasing obligation to always be available for work:
Nothing new there. The new part comes when you start to look at the opposite
side of the equation. How much does our “social life” blur with our work life?
The huge rise in social media has lead to the situation where an increasing
number of us are “always there” for our friends and family who want to Tweet
Us, Friend Us, Tube Us or whatever else may be the latest social media trend.
We are connected to social media the entire waking day (and some don’t seem to
sleep much either). While a lot has been written about how the lines have
blurred between work and home, very little has been said about the fact that the
reverse is now truer than ever: the lines between home (our social media
connections) and work have blurred. Keeping track of the kids, catching up with
old school mates, seeing what past colleagues are doing – it’s all in a day’s
work.
With this blurring
of lines – where lies the distinction between what employers should know about
your “social media life” and what belongs only to you? Do companies have a
right to assess some aspects of an employee’s social network “footprint”
when they are conducting a pre employment screening or an employee
background check? Can employees make the case that they should be allowed to
have access to Facebook, Linked In, YouTube etc. but companies don’t have the
right to know what they are doing on these sites? Let me be clear – I am a
strong believer that companies don’t need to meddle in the personal life of
their employees – they should focus on things like performance, productivity,
and effectiveness, and leave the personal stuff alone. But I also believe
that what we do in this new world enabled by social media (by the way, I hate
that term, since social media is so much more than social) has a great deal of
relevance to who we are as employees. The digital “footprint” we leave says a
lot about who we are. If you believe a person’s previous employment, hobbies,
outside activities, volunteerism are all areas that impact how well a
person will fit into your organization, then why not also assess what they do
on social media. I, for one, hope companies do look at my social media profile.
I think it only helps define who I am. Human Resources needs to get on
board with the social media trend and find ways that protect privacy, while
also finding ways to add value social media data. I
am no longer defined by my job – I am defined by my Linked In profile – so get
on board and tweet me!
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