Executive Summary

The main purpose of this report is to help the employees find out the problems associated to the topic “should companies monitor their employees’ social media?” and come up conclusions and recommendations. We have separate the report into four parts to discuss, they are employees’ rights, employers’ rights, the impact of social media and the importance of social media. At the end we think employers should only monitor employees if employers have enough reason to believe their employees engaged in illegal posting with inappropriate information about their job.

Table of contents

Contents
Honestly Declaration 1
Executive Summary 2
Table of contents 2
1.0 Introduction 3
2.0 Procedure/methodology 3
3.0 Findings and Analysis 3 3.1 The importance of social media 3 3.2 The impact of social media 5 3.3 Employees’ rights 5 3.4 Employers’ rights 6
4.0 Conclusions 7 4.1 The importance of social media 7 4.2 The impact of social media 7 4.3 Employees’ rights 7 4.4 Employers’ rights 8
5.0 Recommendations 8 5.1 The importance of social media 8 5.2 The impact of social media 8 5.3 Employees’ rights 9 5.4 Employers’ rights 9
6.0 Referencing 10

1.0 Introduction

Carole Chamberlain request on March 16, 2015 on research the topic of “should companies monitor their employees’ social media” by written. The report is due on April 7, 2015.

2.0 Procedure/methodology

The sources of the report were gathered from 16 - 29 March 2015. The topic of “should companies monitor their employees’ social media” was researched online and from magazines. The questionnaires were distributed to a total 10 people who had interviewed from 17 - 29 March 2015.

3.0 Findings and Analysis

3.1 The importance of social media

Nowadays, with the great improvement on technology and communication system, there are more and more employees using social media to update their status in daily life, the status may include their life events, personal relationship and work environment. There are many types of social media, it is said: “There are different types of social media: collaborative projects, virtual worlds,8 blogs, content communities, and social networking.” (Joseph, 2012)
You can see the graph below, people use social media through facebook, linked in, twitter, and blogs or others. Among them, most of people would like to use facebook which contains 40%. Also, people like use twister as their social media and contains 30%. There are only 10% people use blogs or others.
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The social media becomes more and more important in everyone’s life, there are many advantages in using social media. DeMers (2014) notes there are several ways social media marketing can improve the work performance, for example, it can increase brand recognition and loyalty, more opportunities to convert, decrease marketing costs, richer customer experiences and improved customer insights. According to my questionnaire, it showed there are many advantages of using social media at work, for example, social media can help employees find customers as soon as possible, it can help employees discuss with each other and exchange useful information and data, it can also help employees explore new marketing area and find out new customers and build relationships.
As the graph below you can see, there is a distribution graph of each interviewer’s age from questionnaire, we can see the people from 18 to 22 age only contains 2 people and people from 23 to 25 contains the highest number with 4 people, the reason is people in this age may just graduate from university and curious to everything, people at their age are interested in using social media. The people from 50 to 65 age have the lowest number, there are only one person who belong to this age group, we can assume people at this age group may not too interested in using social media.
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3.2 The impact of social media

Russell and Stutz (2014) notes social media can be a powerful tool a company can use to its advantage. On the other hand, inappropriate use of social media can influence the (online) reputation of the company in an unwanted way. When we talk about the impact of social media, there are two aspects, the aspect from the point of view on employers to judge employees using social media at work and the impact of the work performance if employees using social media. As we discussed above, there are several advantages on using social media at work for employees, however, there is a certain negative impact of using social media at work, some employees tend to post something inappropriately and negatively about their work, and as a result, some of employees get criticized or fired because of their behavior on social media. It is said: “The number of people fired over social-media posts is rising, and many employers look closely at a job candidate's online presence before making a decision.” (Weber, 2014). So what exactly the negative impact can social media bring? Based on the information from questionnaire, more than half of interviewers said there are someone they known who have been criticized or fired because of using social media at work.

3.3 Employees’ rights

Should employees have rights to use social media at work? As we all known, the employers have the right to ban the behavior of employees using social media at work, however, if there is no related employment policy, most of employees can have rights to use social media at work. According to my questionnaire, more than 80% of employees are allowed to use social media at work, the main reason is most of their employers don’t have a policy regarding using social media, also, there are plenty of advantages of using social media at work, for example, such as increasing work efficiency and exchange information between employees. So if employers can ban the social media at work, can employees have social media post about work? The answer is yes. Based on the the law of National Labor Relations Act (2013), it explains every employees have right to talk about their work conditions, wages, hours and other terms of employment, so it is protected for employees to discuss their work issues and aspects in social media. Also, according to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, everyone has the right to speak and express, including the freedom to seek, receive and impact information and opinions of any kind in any form. (Mills& Hall, 2014).

3.4 Employers’ rights

Many employers think it is necessary to intervene employees using social media at work, because they think social media can bring an negative impact on the employees’ work performance and achievement, and they think social media has nothing to do with employee’s job, yes it is, from the result of questionnaire, there are more than half of interviewers admit that when they access to social media during work hours, there is nothing to do associated with work. So does employer has right to ban employees using social media at work? The answer is yes, every employers have right to regulate each employee should not using social media at work. Also, every employers have their legal right to monitor their employees, but there is a basic premise, that is, employer should only monitor his employees when the employer has reason to suspect his employee is engaged in illegal conduct.(Maltby, n.d.).

4.0 Conclusions

4.1 The importance of social media

In conclusion, an efficient work environment can not live without the involvement of social media, by using social media at work can potentially increase the opportunities to find new customers, also, using social media can allow employees discuss ideas and exchange information and can increase the work efficiency through a quick response in social media. The employers should understand how important the social media represent for and give an high understanding and tolerance of accepting employees using social media to enhance the work efficiency and performance.

4.2 The impact of social media

From the feedback of questionnaire, there are many advantages we can list on employees using social media at work. Such as increasing work efficiency and exchange information quickly. However, it seems like employers don’t give an understanding of using social media at work and try to monitor employees’ social media, the problem arisen mainly because most of the employers don’t realize the benefits of social media and only focus on the negative aspects of social media.

4.3 Employees’ rights

Based on the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, we can know employees have their right of expression and post on their opinions and experiences about work. And it is said: “ According to the National Labor Relations Board, the government agency responsible for upholding workers' rights.”(Rosenberg, 2015) Also, most of employees at work are allowed to use social media at work. In my mind, employees deserve the rights to post anything on social media as long as the information does not hurt.

4.4 Employers’ rights

According to the related laws and regulations, employers can have rights to monitor their employees’ social media and it is acceptable for employers regulate the rule of not using social media at work, however, I would suggest the situation of employers monitor their employees should only happen when they believe their employees post some information that are inappropriate and unreasonable about the work.

5.0 Recommendations

5.1 The importance of social media

There are several social media you can choose, such as Twitter, Facebook and Linked in. Each social media has its own features and you can use them as a communication tool. In my opinion, I think social media has both negative impacts and positive impacts, if employees use social media in a good way and use social media to enhance their work efficiency, then the positive impact comes. However, if employees use social media for fun or personal reasons at work or always public some sensitive and inappropriate information about their work, then the outcome of using social media will not be good. The employees should use social media in a good way.

5.2 The impact of social media

If employees don’t want their managers to monitor their social media in life or at work, it is important for them to let their managers know the good things about social media. First, if employees want to use social media at work and don’t want any restriction on using social media at work, it is a good idea they have a discussion with their employers and let employers understand they won’t use social media that are unrelated to the work or decrease the work efficiency. And they can also promise to employers they won’t post any bad things which will influence the reputation of work.

5.3 Employees’ rights

The reason why employers want to monitor employees’ social media is because they afraid employees might reveal private information or trade secrets. (Bussing, 2014). So I would suggest employees should control themselves from not posting too sensitive information about the work. Employees should understand the social media is mainly for the post about personal life but not the place to vent their frustration about the work.

5.4 Employers’ rights

Employers can have rights to monitor their employees, but once they found out the inappropriate information about the work from their employees, these information were already published. There are several reasons why employers should not monitor their employees, Bussing (2014) notes that if you want to prevent people from saying things online that they should not say, teach them what is off-limits and why it’s important to the company or the people involved. I think the best solution for employers is not monitor the employees’ social media but to let employees understand and learn how to avoid posting inappropriate and wrong information about the work. It is suggested: “ employers should hire a third party to conduct the search. Employers should determine what type of information is relevant to the job and instruct search firms to report only this type of information.”( Should companies monitor their employees’ social media, 2014)

6.0 Referencing

Anna F,. Christine L,.& Timothy R. Social Media and the National Labor Relations Act: What Employers Need to Know in Drafting and Updating Their Social Media Policies. Media. Retrieved from http://media.mofo.com/files/Uploads/Images/130114-Social-Media-Policies.pdf

Don’t Monitor Employees on Social Media.( 2014, May 13) HR Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.hrexaminer.com/dont-monitor-employees-on-social-media/

Russell, R., & Stutz, M. (2014). SOCIAL MEDIA: WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW. Journal of Internet Law, 17(8), 3-6. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1501615784?accountid=41154

Rosenberg, J. M. (2015, Mar 29). Employees have rights on social media. Journal - Gazette Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1667474455?accountid=41154

Joseph, S. (2012). SOCIAL MEDIA, POLITICAL CHANGE, AND HUMAN RIGHTS. Boston College International and Comparative Law Review, 35(1), 145-188. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1468665119?accountid=41154

Jennifer M., &Christie H., (2014). When social networking and employment collide. ADLS. Retrieved from http://www.adls.org.nz/for-the-profession/news-and-opinion/2014/4/3/when-social-networking-and-employment-collide/

No: It Too Often Becomes a Fishing Expedition Unrelated to Work Issues. (n.d.) Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/should-companies-monitor-their-employees-social-media-1399648685

Should companies monitor their employees' social media? (2014, Oct 22). Wall Street Journal Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/should-companies-monitor-their-employees-social-media-1399648685

Should companies monitor their employees' social media? (2014, May 13). Wall Street Journal Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1523802242?accountid=41154

The Top 10 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing. (2014, Nov 11). Forbes Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/

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