We've all heard the stories in which someone did something outside of work which got captured on social media or the like which cost them their job.  Playing devil's advocate, if the person is good at their job, should something they did outside of work affect their job? For instance maybe you are racist, but it doesn't hinder you from being a hard working employee and getting stellar performance reviews.  You don't let your personal views influence your work but you went to a rally and you were seen by a fellow employee on Facebook flying a Nazi flag.  You didn't physically hurt anyone or break the law but now people know where you stand and subsequently you are fired because of this.  Is it justified?

Currently, I have a friend who is on time off because a woman at work filed a complaint about non-professional behavior in the workplace.  He was blindsided as she was 1 of 6 people out of 50 he had from work as a Facebook 'friend', they are both married and just friends, they ate in a group together at work, went to fuctions in a group outside of work, but at some point he must have said something to upset her because she spent 6 months compiling a list of things against him including things he publicly posted she apparently took offence to.  Now in my mind, I think she should have just told him, 'unfriended' him and that's that but the fact that they are allowing her to use his personal social media to validate her complaints innerves me. 

  

  

I’m super paranoid when it comes to this stuff, work has a strict policy with no negative stuff about work on Facebook so I don’t post anything about work. I was even worried I’d get in trouble for cutting a heel promo at HVW because it’s held at my work 😂.

One of my co-workers put up a picture of him flipping off the staircase at work saying “fuck this place” which is beyond dumb but there’s even been cases of employees showing private group FB convos to management in efforts to get brownie points.

I know that’s different as they agreed to those terms publicly but yes I agree your political views on FB shouldn’t affect your work.

I comment on a lot of political stuff on Facebook, but I only have co-workers i trust on FB and it hasn’t backfired yet. Though my work is so desperate for staff & has so much turnover I don’t think they would care as long as I showed up for work.

I read an article about someone got fired from a government job because they were a Nazi online, so I feel like that is a somewhat justified scenario but not so much in the public sector.

Simply, work and social media are two different things for me. I will never mention work, either negative or positive on Facebook, as I do not won't any connection made between the two. One is my professional life, the other private.

I believe, anything I do outside of work should be 100% off limits to my employer. There exists no code of conduct in my home, and if I don't violate any terms and conditions of the social media giants, then why should my employer deem it ok to pass judgment? However, I would think if my opinions expressed online, contradicted the core values of my employers - say for example, I was a foster carer, and was making jokes about child rape, maybe I'm not the best role model and services terminated - that's it.

Social media is basically an unofficial part of your resume imo. If you’re proudly sporting nazi prop on your profiles or are recorded being racist, what’s to stop an employer from assuming your judgment is biased even if you are producing results at work? Like for example, that girl who blocked her black neighbor from entering their building was fired from her job because her reasoning during the incident doesn’t fall in line with her workplace’s policy on inclusivity. It’s the same as it’s always been even before this age of social media. Spare yourself the trouble, do what you want behind closed doors (or in this case, a screen) and just be decent, at least, for the public.

This is why people should hide behind cartoon avatars.

Does make selfies kinda awkward though.

Oct 16, 2018 23:52:44 GMT iron maiden said:

We've all heard the stories in which someone did something outside of work which got captured on social media or the like which cost them their job.  Playing devil's advocate, if the person is good at their job, should something they did outside of work affect their job? For instance maybe you are racist, but it doesn't hinder you from being a hard working employee and getting stellar performance reviews.  You don't let your personal views influence your work but you went to a rally and you were seen by a fellow employee on Facebook flying a Nazi flag.  You didn't physically hurt anyone or break the law but now people know where you stand and subsequently you are fired because of this.  Is it justified?

Currently, I have a friend who is on time off because a woman at work filed a complaint about non-professional behavior in the workplace.  He was blindsided as she was 1 of 6 people out of 50 he had from work as a Facebook 'friend', they are both married and just friends, they ate in a group together at work, went to fuctions in a group outside of work, but at some point he must have said something to upset her because she spent 6 months compiling a list of things against him including things he publicly posted she apparently took offence to.  Now in my mind, I think she should have just told him, 'unfriended' him and that's that but the fact that they are allowing her to use his personal social media to validate her complaints innerves me. 

  

  

This furthers my view iron maiden, that people are stupid and petty.
Posting on Facebook is not the same as a personal conversation.
The nearest analogy i can think of is having a noticeboard up on your front door and pinning your thoughts about life and other people on it.
Anyone coming to your house is fully able to read it and take offence and record your opinions.
Now if you say it 1 on 1 and someone is offended then too bad, it was private.

So I would suggest that anything you put on Social Media is fair game to be used against you as your put it in a public place.
The flip side of that is that someone who takes that information and causes trouble with it, I would possibly act on the information but I would also discipline that person for showing a lack of judgement and discretion... I would certainly never promote them

If that person was on the front page of the newspaper waving a Nazi flag I’d think it would be well within the employers right to fire them, not sure how being on Facebook instead would make that different.

But I don’t know that there’s a universal answer for what should and shouldn’t be done. I suppose how public the incendiary issue is makes a difference (the nazi people for instance was doing that in public, I have no problem with a company letting go of someone for being that inappropriate in public), whereas with the second example my circumstances in the company might make me more apt to say “did you unfollow the person? Then how offended could you really be?”

But in general I think that your behavior on the internet reflects on your employer and if a person is being sexist or racist on FB the company has every right to determine that headache isn’t worth it.

Oct 18, 2018 0:04:28 GMT mikec said:

But in general I think that your behavior on the internet reflects on your employer and if a person is being sexist or racist on FB the company has every right to determine that headache isn’t worth it.

Kind of makes me glad I'm self-employed... And positing anonymously.  :rockin:

This is why I don't post any opinions on Facebook and only share something I found find funny occasionally that someone may find offensive but then again sharing something no one finds offensive is impossible in today's world as there seems to be this thing where if someone found something you said offensive they feel you should not be able to say it and try and ruin your life over it because they think it's offensive. The major problem I find is this obsession of scouring your entire social media history going back sometimes over 10 years and finding a bad joke or a statement at the time seemed harmless but now some people find offensive and then using that to get you fired or shame you and try and ruin your career and life. I once saw a editorial comment that I think rings true today. It's not exact but goes something like

When did we go from "I disagree with what you said but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" to "I disagree with what you said so i'm going to call you a racist and bigot and do everything I can to take away your right to say it"


I work in a very public building so I try and not post anything on social media that could bite me in the ass or lead people to where I work. There many times I want to comment on something stupid someone said but I stop myself as I know it will just to lead to an argument loop and trying to argue on the internet is like trying to break down a brick wall with your head, you'll just get a headache