In Class Group Case Study #4

Jessica Hummel, Mariah Huehnergard, Kaarle Comeau, Kelsey Schmidt, Cat Crawford
November 8th, 2016
BUSI - 1002 - Work Issues and Ethics
Sandra Wilson
 In Class Group Case Study #4
Is Employer Monitoring of Employee Social Media Justified?

Reasons to Agree:
Employees who are supposed to be representing the company and are failing to on social media
could cause issues of the company's reputation. Sometimes an individual's personal virtue ethics
(corporate citizenship, generosity, honesty) may not align with the organization virtues. When these clash
it can cause discrepancies in the organization's image. An organization is not trying to force ethical beliefs
but through someone's online identity they could determine their stance. Most organizations have created
social media policy prohibiting the use of social media at work. Using social media at work can distract
employees and cause issues with their overall performance. For employers to make sure they are abiding
they could check social media. If an employee is directly going against workplace policies they should be
punished.
By having a social media account, people have to be aware of the types of responsibilities that
they have involving their online platform. If individuals dont want certain people to see what they post
on social media then they can have control over their settings. Sites such as Facebook make it possible for
people who are using the site to have a certain level of protection regarding who can see their profile.
Employees should be aware that these settings exist and that they should take advantage of them if they
dont want employers to judge what they post.
Another aspect of social media that doesnt get enough attention is the terms of use regarding the
different sites or apps. It is clearly stated that the individual using the account will have a basic profile till
they establish which parts of their lives they want to make public. As long as employees are aware of the
risks of using social media then they will be able to protect themselves from having unwanted users see
their account. According to the personal virtues ethic, an individuals or corporations behaviour is based
upon being a good person or corporate citizen with traits such as courage, honesty, wisdom, temperance,
and generosity (Sexty, 2014). Personal virtues ethic focuses on the decision maker being concerned with
the character of his or her own actions (Sexty, 2014). The standards of behaviour are high, as businesses
and corporations set expectations of how employees should act outside of the business. Monitoring an
employee's social media may be used to ensure that the employee is being responsible in terms of
presenting themselves in the public eye. For example, a police officer should not be posting photos of
him/her doing illegal activity. Employers should be able to see what their employees are posting because
then it ensures the consistent behaviour of their actions. This ties into government required ethics, which
is the acceptance of a code of laws as the governing rules of society or as a contract with society that
determines what is considered right or appropriate behaviour (Sexty, 2014). This represents the
minimum moral standards for, using the example, police officers to make sure that their behaviour outside
of work and on social media does not make them look bad. In this example, if a police officer was doing
illegal things and posting it on social media, he/she could face termination because their behaviour does
not fit the standards for police officers.

Reasons to Disagree:
In the case, employees were fired because their privacy was being invaded by the employer,
seeing the status that were made about their work stress. Brian E. Hayes, the lone dissenter in the
Hispanics United case, wrote that the five employees were simply venting, (Greenhouse, 2013). Even
though it was unprofessional of these employees to let their anger out this way, they never thought their
workplace would see it. If an organization is going to be checking social media for these types of things it
should be included in their code of conduct, explicitly stating what appropriate behaviour is by
identifying what is acceptable and unacceptable, (Sexty, 2014). This would result in the termination being
justified, as well as decreasing the amount of posts surrounding the company is a distructful manner.
Discrimination can be a major dilemma with the use of monitoring social media to retain a pool
of employees to potentially recruit as there may be some legal issues that will arise. The social
networking Web site may reveal information that would show a candidate to be in a protected class or
category. This information is now provided prior to seeing the candidate face-to-face, and they could be
passed up for an interview based on those factors (Greenhouse, 2013). If an employer looks at a
candidates social media account and sees something regarding their sexuality, religion, gender, etc., this
could affect their decision to hire this person, even though that is discrimination, which is also illegal.
This could be a violation of legal issues, as well of the companys code of conduct, which explicitly states
what appropriate behaviour is by identifying what is acceptable and unacceptable (Sexty, 2014). This is a
very delicate issue that many companies should avoid, and in order to do so, they should completely
refrain from tracking social media posts of their potential candidates.
Based on the self-interest ethic, those that are having their social media being monitored may not
be receiving the fair and courteous treatment from the employers as they may be judging them based on
what they are posting. The self-interest ethic is when a corporation sets their own standards for judging
the ethical implications of their actions; only the individual's values are the basis for actions (Sexty,
2014). If an employer is basing their recruiting decisions on whether the candidate is posting something
the employer approves of or not, they will only choose the option that will benefit them in the end, not
that of the individual applying for the position. The employer is basically disregarding the need for ethics
because they would only be only relying on their self- interest, which in turn causes no reasonable
justification made in the decision. In turn. It would rather be just a mere choice based on who posted what
on their social media, and if it was appealing or not.
Another reason to disagree with the idea of employers monitoring social media in the workplace
is the topic of dismissal or termination of employees around the use of social media. Employees should be
able to express themselves outside of work and there should be a certain expectation regarding privacy
while off-duty including social media habits (Davis, 2007). Since they are not within the workplace, they
shouldnt be punished for what they do outside of work. Also, employers dont have the right to end a
successful career by an action that isnt directly related to their responsibilities within the company. An
employee can still present themselves in a professional manner regardless of how they present themselves
to their friends and families. Employers have to realize that social media is a big part of everyday life and
they cant control all their employees who have an account.
In conclusion, there are numerous opinions based on the idea of whether employer monitoring of
social media is appropriate or not, as there are many reasons to justify both sides of the argument.
Monitoring social media should be can cause legal issues such as basing decisions using discrimination,
or whether the employer merely just dislikes what they see. On the other hand, it can also be a positive
aspect as employers it will be able to supplement a candidate's resume and qualifications for the job, as
well as ensures the current employees are following the company's policies regarding social media usage,
on and off work time.
 References

Elzweig, B., Peeples, D.K., Greenhouse, S. (2013). Is Employer Monitoring of Employee Social
Media Justified? Whitby, Ontario: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Sexty, R. W. (2014). Canadian business and society: Ethics, responsibilities and sustainability
(3rd ed.). Whitby, Ontario: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.