Introduction

Recent trends in the United States show that employers are monitoring the activities of their employees in social media.  The reasons for censorship by the employers is the worry over the possibility of negative exposure to their business as a result of unrestricted use of popular networking sites. Also, major organizations get worried that the use of social media in the workplace will hamper the productivity of their employees. However, authoritative findings on the issue of banning social media sites at the workplace show that the opposite is true: freedom of social media use enhances productivity at the workplace (Holtz, n.d). This paper will analyze scholarly articles to provide insights into the reasons why employers should exercise the use of social media with caution. Scientific evidence shows that employers could harness the energies of social media use by their employees towards constructive activities.

Why Employers should waive their Right to Restrict Social Media at the Workplace

First Amendment concerns on the right to free speech is a serious consideration by the employers. Litigations and bad publicity could arise from attempts by the human resource management in an organization to curtail the freedom of their employees to express themselves. For example, when an intern complained about having to balance social media activity via the Twitter app early in 2009, the decision by the affected technology company Cisco to rescind their offer of employment, as a result, resulted to a wave of negative publicity for the company. There were concerns about the issue of freedom of speech at the workplace (Holtz, n.d). The tweet led to a public backlash by the public on what was viewed as an infringement to the private life of the employees outside the place of work. Human resource principles empower the employers to limit the kind and quality of information being disseminated by the organization through their employees. The decision by the technology firm was within their rights as employers but could have been approached differently to enhance the output of the employee.

Instituting measures to restrict the use of social media is a futile attempt. Instead, it is a largely ineffective strategy which does not work since the employees will always find a way of maneuvering the strict social media policy of an organization. The practice of banning the use of social media is counterproductive since it places the challenge on the employees to find a way out of the set rules. Human resource experts estimate that the time which employees spend on finding ways of circumventing the rules which curtail the use of social media is more than the time they spend visiting the sites (Holtz, n.d). The employers could find ways of measuring the output of their employees rather than putting in place frameworks of curtailing the freedom of employees on the internet and the socializing platforms. After all, the resources dedicated to imposing measures on the use of social media will likely be wasted as the employees will find a way of accessing the sites anyway (Mag Mutual, 2018). The organizations could also decide to introduce frequent breaks between performing certain tasks to enhance the concentration of the workers and less social media use.

The use of social media while at the workplace increases the output of employees. The quality of work and whether the tasks assigned is delivered on time are the two main parameters of measuring the output of the employees. The time spent on the task or in social media is irrelevant as long as quality work is delivered by the employees on time. The University of Melbourne found through a study that employees who were allowed access to social media during the workplace were more productive than the employees who were not allowed access to social media (Holtz, n.d). When employees have to visit their social media pages first before getting back to their tasks, studies show that they become more invigorated when performing their tasks. The visit to a social media account by the employees at a workplace can be used a reward to their concentration levels (Holtz, n.d). The psychological perception of freedom of choice for the employees motivates them to work hard and deliver maximum quality output for their work.

Legal hurdles exist which could be detrimental to the practice of employers to monitor social media accounts of their employers. For example, the Stored Communications Act generally prohibits employees from accessing the account of another employee without their legal consent (Holtz, n.d). The intrusion of a person’s private space such as their social media accounts could potentially be a violation of the law of torts (Mag Mutual, 2018). For an employer, the right to monitor the social media accounts could be loaded with legal repercussions which makes it not worth all the hustle. Also, when the device is owned by the employee, the employer’s right to access the social media account is limited. Employees could have legal backing when complaining of violations to their personal space. Federal whistleblower laws prohibit the limitations placed on the employees regarding the use of personal space and denial of the right to express themselves (Holtz, n.d). When there is insufficient evidence that the social media use by employees does not paint the organization in a bad light, the employer may be at pains to find a legal backing to exercise their right to limit the use of social media among employees. For the employers, the practice of banning social media is not only effective, but it also makes it impossible to find legal backing.

The employer needs a specific policy regarding what could be disseminated from the workplace especially on the social interaction platforms on the internet. The majority of issues with social media emanate from the lack of a concrete policy by the employers regarding the use of social media sites (Holtz, n.d). Various definitions on the permissible information vary from one employer to the next regarding the content of information which the employees could potentially share on social media accounts (Mag Mutual, 2018). Formulation of a robust policy showing the expectations of the organization regarding the conduct of its employees on social media platforms assists the employers to find a balance between the workplace exposure of their employees to social media and the need to make their employees feel free without undue pressure or monitoring by the human resource management of an organization.

Counter Arguments

The main reason employers limit the use of social media by their employees at the workplace is to reduce the possibility of negative internal information from leaking to the public. The workers of a particular organization could be tempted to complain about low pay or poor working conditions of their workplace on their social media platforms. For any organization, the bad publicity which could occur as a result is undesirable and unsuitable for business (Mag Mutual, 2018). It is the reason why employers feel that they are entitled to monitor the activities of their employees on the internet to reduce the incidence of the wrong information being disseminated by the employees to the public. Research shows that employers could allow the freedom of expression to their employees (Mag Mutual, 2018). In effect, a free hand allows the workers to practice self-censorship regarding what is acceptable and what is not. Therefore, it becomes redundant to for an organization to ban, control or restrict the use of social media at the workplace.

Conclusion

The use of social media in a workplace setting could be channeled by the employer towards enhancing the productivity of their employees rather than curtailing their freedom. An organization needs to balance between the information which is disseminated from the organization and the need to ensure that workers engage in the production of the work which they are paid. Genuine concerns from the employers may stem from the need to reduce the incidence of bad publicity on the organization. Empirical research shows that the use of social media in the workplace does not hamper the productivity of the employees, but rather enhances their output regarding delivery on time and quality work. Federal laws and policies on the legal restrictions of the employers on the use of interactive social platforms generally place the onus on the firms to ensure a delicate balancing between responsible use of social media by workers of an organization and the need to keep secrets of the organization away from the public eye. For most employers, the course of action which is to their best interests involves exercising caution when reducing the influence of social media in the workplace. The workers involved in an organization setting have to feel free to make their personal choices, but also have the responsibility to exercise censorship so that they do not hurt the interests of the organization which pays their bills.

References

Holtz, Shel. (n.d). The Debate about Blocking Social Media in the Workplace. Monster Worldwide Inc. Retrieved: https://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/workforce-management/employee-performance-management/blocking-social-media-us.aspx. Accessed on: 14^th December, 2018.

Mag Mutual. (June 15, 2018). An Employer’s Right to Control and Use Social Media. Mag Mutual. Retrieved from: https://www.magmutual.com/learning/article/employer%E2%80%99s-right-control-and-use-social-media. Accessed on: 14^th December, 2018.