Think Tank: How to snoop on employees without causing offence

“A manager wouldn’t follow an employee down the pub to check on what he
or she said to friends about their day at work. Just because they can do
something like this online, doesn’t mean they should.”

However, it does work both ways, and if an employee does publicly insult their
employer online, without applying any privacy settings, then it is the
equivalent of shouting out abuse in the town square – and they can be judged
for it. A balance definitely needs to be struck between what information is
made public and what is put behind strong privacy settings online. But,
until now, most guides have laid the onus at the feet of the person
publishing information.

The Acas guide does state that employees should assume that everything they
say on the internet could be made public and that they should think about
whether they want their colleagues or boss to read it. However, what this
guide does which stands out from the rest is address the fact that there are
contexts online, just as there are in real life. Just because a boss can
read about their staff’s private lives, it doesn’t mean they should or even
that they can use that information against them.

Indeed, the Acas guide clearly cautions employers about the risks of “Googling”
potential employees and using any personal information gleaned from the
internet, such as a person’s religious beliefs, in the recruitment process.

In no uncertain terms, managers have been warned that they risk being sued for
discrimination if they use websites such as Facebook to look into the
private lives of prospective workers and then use this information when
deciding whether to hire them or not.

In a week that has seen Jodie Jones, one of Britain’s youngest councillors,
criticised by her colleagues for drunken photos on Facebook, taken before
she assumed her post, this part of the guide needs to be taken on board by
employers everywhere.

We are entering an era where everyone will have grown up with a social network
profile. They may well have published embarrassing photos, the type that
used to lie forgotten in dusty albums in the attic and now exist in the full
glare of the internet.

Yes, privacy settings should be applied, but sometimes things slip through the
net, and so context must be applied when employers come across this type of
personal online information. Further, managers should tell prospective
employees and current staff whether they have looked at any material and why
they have done so. All “snooping” activity needs to be relevant,
transparent and appropriate.

The Acas guide also encourages employers to promote the use of social
networking websites in the workplace as a “key part of business and
marketing”.

The recommendation comes despite a study by myjobgroup, a jobs website, which
calculated that social media activity in the workplace cost the UK economy
£14bn in lost productivity last year.

Some companies have taken the rash step of banning access on work computers to
social networking sites such as Facebook, but doing so is incredibly
short-sighted as people can easily access social networks on their
smartphones. Moreover, what’s the difference between frittering away hours
online and old fashioned time-wasters such as making a cup of tea or having
a cigarette break?

Acas has advised bosses to draft their own social media policy in order to
avoid staff confusion about what is and isn’t allowed online.

But rather than these policies prescribing draconian measures which limit
freedom of speech, they should preach common sense and apply principles used
in the real world.

Every employer does need to make it clear to their staff what the company
policy is on the use of social media and employees have a duty to ensure
that any information they publish online is either not publicly available,
or benign enough for any reasonable manager to stomach.

But, equally, bosses must not abuse information that may be available to them
through the internet if it isn’t relevant.

If there is more honesty and compassion all round, the modern workplace can
evolve and flourish. Ultimately, businesses will reap the rewards in kind
through happy workers and clever digital communication.

Emma Barnett is the Digital Media Editor at The Telegraph.
Twitter: @emmabarnett

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