Now, employees have been snooping around & checking out the social profiles of their employees (both current & potential) for a while now. Background checks are also common, but the question is; where is the line that marks "invasion of privacy"?
Anyone who accesses Facebook's site is subject to their Terms of use, wherein it states that: "You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else."
While this is a great principle, someone who is desperate for employment is probably not going to refuse to hand over login details to someone he/she hopes is about to give them a job.
There's also the question of whether companies will start paying Facebook to access information on potential employees. Which isn't much different from the idea of 'strategic partners' who already have access to your information & make suggestions like what other music artists you might like, or places you might want to shop at.
Of course, reverse the situation & things get rather one-sided.
How does an individual do a background check on a company? Specially when people are being asked to sign agreements that restrict them from making any public comments about the organisation, specifically when it comes to publishing those comments on social media sites.
While companies may have the money to hire someone to investigate individuals, it's highly unlikely that the average person has the money to hire someone to investigate the company in return & question the happiness of its current employees.
In other words, individuals don't have much hope against the big guys & what they dictate. Unless loads of individuals band together, act as a unit & revolt against the 'authorities'.
It can happen & when it does, the dictators don't stand a chance.
The other side of the coin is questioning just how much information employers have a right to know before they hire you. What if the potential employee is a peodophile? What if they have engaged in illegal activities such as drug abuse or theft of a previous employer's property?
When is it okay to snoop & how much information should they snoop on?
It's highly debatable.
While people's private activities are their own business, after-hour activities can have a direct or indirect affect on your work. If you're arrested, or you land up in hospital, the business is affected. And that's essentially the risk that organisations are trying to avoid.
However, the methods of risk management that some companies are using, are not the best.
So what is the best approach?
It's a hard question to answer & something that organisations should seriously be considering in the age of social media. In fact, organisations should probably consider things like social media & potential employees in their overall Risk Management Strategy.
Certainly the best approach is not to ask someone for their username & password during an interview!
