Social medias impact on employment

Dr. Anthony Curtis, 'The Brief History of Social Media' (University of North Carolina at Pembroke 2013) accessed 25th November 2014
IBID
Fortune 500 2014' (Fortune 2014) accessed 25th November 2014
IBID
Kellie O'Shea, 'Use of Social Media in Employment: Should I Fire? Should I Hire?' (Cornell HR Review 2012) accessed 25th November 2014
Erica Swallow, 'How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates' (Mashable UK 2011) accessed 25th November 2014 /
Jennifer Grasz, 'Employers Passing on Applicants Due to Social Media Posts' (Career builder 2013) accessed 25th November 2014
Randy Duermyer, 'Introduction to LinkedIn' (About Money 2010) accessed 25th November 2014
Andrea Broughton, 'The use of social media in the recruitment process' [2012] , 19
Kelli A. Green, 'Diversity in the Workplace' (Scribd 2014) accessed 25th November 2014
P Springer, M Carson, Pioneers of Digital, Success stories (1st, Kogan page, London, Uk 2012) 132
Go Gulf, 'The role of social media in pre-employment screeining' (Go Gulf 2014) accessed 25th November 2014
EQUAL STATUS ACT 2003 s section 42(1)
IBID, (3)
[2012] EqLR 724
Kiernan v Awear [2007] UD643/2007 (EAT)
Preece v JD Wetherspoons plc [2011] 2104806/10
Sinead Hennebry , 'e.g. Administrative Law' (William Fry 2014) accessed 25th November 2014
Pietrylo V. Hillstone Restaurant Group [2009] 06-5754 (D.N.J)
Data Protection (Amended) 2003 s 3(1)(a)
Crisp v Apple [2011] LW 1500258/11 (ET)
Defamation Act 2009


School of Law
Course Code: LW383


Title:

"Social media's impact on employment"



Student Name: Bruce Waldron
Student ID No.: 12490742
Year & Course: 3rd B.corp

Lecturer Name: Mr Ronan Kennedy

Word Count (exclusive bibliography) :2570


Introduction

This paper will look at how social media has impacted on employment. It will focus on how companies and workers have utilised social media with regards to employment and what are the positive and negative consequences thereof for both stakeholders. A look into privacy concerns will also be addressed with a following of recommendations which may aid in optimizing social media within employment.

Growth of social media

Social media has been around for numerous amounts of years, with the first real social media site "Friends –reunited" set up in 1999. Whilst social Media websites were consistently growing, they hadn't gained enormous amounts of traffic until around 2005 when the likes of Myspace and Facebook began to really grow. These two social media platforms would fight it out to be the social media platform of choice until 2009 when Facebook ended Myspace's reign for the first time in 3 years. Whilst early social media was mere novelty, the same cannot be said for the social media platforms of today, the platforms of today are a part of our everyday lives. These platforms such as Facebook or Google+ are firmly within the Fortune500, a list comprising of the world's top 500 companies.

A new use for social media

Traditionally social media websites were a way for people to connect, they help bring the world together and offer a profuse number of services. Until quite recently, social media platforms were regarded as an escape from the working world, of which many users are a part of. The traditional usage of social media is still extremely prevalent but a new and quite interesting way in which social media is being used, is within the area of employment. Kellie A. O'Shea, who is the Director of Sales & Implementation at Creative Services Inc, states that "The lines between personal and professional personas have merged into an indistinguishable haze". This statement by Ms O'Shea is extremely accurate as employers have begun using social media to both hire and fire; an important consideration to take up though is whether or not this indistinguishable haze is a footstep through the door of privacy.

Employers using social media as a tool

Employers have begun to realise the benefits that using social media has and will continue to provide. Unbeknownst to many workers, employers have added a new and innovative tool to their belt, social media. This tool is in somewhat like a Swiss army knife, it has multiple uses. What is going to be examined in detail is how this tool aids in both hiring and firing in employment. A study Reppler and Lab42 showed that ninety one percent of employers are using social media in their recruitment process. This statistic shows that truly a new way to utilise social media has been born. The most popular forms of social media as used by employers are Facebook, seventy six percent, Twitter, fifty three percent and LinkedIn forty eight percent. It comes as no surprise that so many employers have opted to appreciate this new use for social media and there are now social media platforms with specific focus on employer/worker usage. For example LinkedIn is a social networking website which is "providing people with a way to use their own connections to gain new ones".

Positive impacts on employment

Social media platforms have proved to be valuable resource to those who are looking to hire and those looking to get hired. They offer a unique way for employers to fill their vacancies. Now there are social media platforms with the purpose of being a recruitment outlet, like the previously mentioned LinkedIn.

One impact social media has on employment is that it enables the furtherance of diversity within businesses. A survey by Acas online identified that sixty five percent of employers use social media to access a more diverse workforce that with traditional methods .Employers who chose from a diverse workforce will see the benefits of which it brings. Kelli A. Green and her University of Florida colleagues in their paper, "Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the required Managerial Tools", said that "Diverse work teams bring high value to organizations and business". Diversity brings both creativity and innovation, two attributes which are highly sought out in today's competitive business environment.


Another positive impact social media has on employment is its efficiency for hiring. Social media is a cheap and efficient way to screen prospective/current employees. Jon Hull, Global Head of Resourcing at RS Components – an electronics distributor headquartered in the
UK – who states that, on average, hiring for a senior post using social media costs them £714, compared with £7,500 via more traditional methods. Some social networking platforms have incorporated targeting tools to aid the recruitment process. For example, software can now make job advertisements more targeted by scanning an individual's LinkedIn profile once they click a link related to the company and then showing available positions most relevant to the person.

Both of the above positive impacts can also come together for employees. No longer do employees need contract with an employment agency to find a job or spend all day searching through newspapers etc. Social media has opened up a new avenue for employees to get hired, sites such as LinkedIn allow workers to create online curriculum vitae's which essentially advertises your experience and allows to build connections. Employees who keep their social media account up to date and clean may find this benefiting them in the recruitment process. One in five hiring managers have decided to hire someone based on something they seen on the person's social media, for example good personality or professional image.



Negative impacts on employment

What has previously been mentioned in this paper may allude to an assumption that social media impacts very positively on employment. However no verdict should yet be reach on whether social media is a good thing for employment until first understanding the negatives that are attached with these platforms when used in various aspects of employment.

A major impact that social media poses for employers is that it opens up a new manner for them to be vicariously liable. In Ireland vicarious liability is a well-established principle which basically states that where an employee commits a wrong during their employment, not only may that employee be directly liable for their action but also their employer may be held vicariously liable for that employee's wrongdoing. How will social media impact in terms of vicarious liability? Employers could find themselves liable under section 42 of the Equal status Act Ireland, for acts of bullying, harassment or discrimination of employees carried out by other employees on social media sites. Employers would not be able to rely on the fact that they gave no consent or had no knowledge. In the UK case of Otomewo v Carphone Warehouse (2012)an employee here had his phone taken by two colleagues who uploaded a Facebook status saying that the plaintiff had "come out of the closet". The tribunal found the comments were false, unwanted and caused the plaintiff stress and embarrassment. They found the employer, Carphone warehouse, to be liable for employee actions as it was during course of employment.

In today's business world, employers strive to prevent and limit any negative publicity so as to not damage the company's image. Social media does poise a threat, negative publicity from consumers may be bad but when it comes from your own staff it can have serious implications. However the Irish courts have been reluctant to uphold dismissals of employees who had engaged in bad mouthing of their employers. The reasoning behind this seems to be that most of the time the comments made did not cause not proportionate damage to warrant a dismissal. In the case of Kiernan v Awear (2007), the plaintiff posted negative comments about her branch manager; these comments were reported to the manager who subsequently dismissed Ms Kiernan. Ms Kiernan brought the dismissal to employee appeals tribunal who held that the dismissal was disproportionate. A potential flaw in the logic of disproportion used by the Irish courts is that employees are generally breaching codes of conduct and policies set out by employers. In the UK case of Preece v JD Wetherspoons plc, similar facts to that of the Kiernan case, with an employee posting negative comments online and being dismissed. However the UK court found that the dismissal was just as the company had carried out a fair investigation and also had policy prohibiting employees from writing anything potentially damaging online, a policy which the employee was aware of. Although dismissals are quite harsh, they can be justified as employees have breached the employers trust and have damaged the reputation of that employer, even when lightly damaged, the intent was still there.

Reputation and liability need not be all an employer worries about social media platforms can and do cause unproductivity amongst employees. In Ireland 81% of employees access social media sites during work hours, whilst on average spending fifty six minutes a day whislt at work, this was noted in a recent survey by William Fry. Mel Brooks an accomplished executive coach states that "Research reported that Facebook shaves 1.5 percent off productivity…. British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon". 2.2 billion was lost due to Facebook solely, incorporate all the other forms of social media and this figure would surely double


Is employee privacy upheld?

One of the more prevalent questions asked in the area of social media and its impact on employment, is whether employees are having their privacy infringed upon. The answer would be no, workers are in control of what can be seen and who can see it on their social media pages; after all they are their pages. Workers should avoid placing anything on which could be seen in a different light by your employer in comparison to your peers.

A case where employers were found however to be invading employee privacy was in the case of Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group. In this case the plaintiffs Brian Pietrylo (Pietrylo) and Doreen Marino, they were fired from their employment with Houston restaurant owned by the Hillstone restaurant group. Pietrylo created a group on the Myspace called "Spec-Tator." Members were other employees who were invited to join the group. Pietrylo's first post said the group's purpose was to vent about work without "any outside eyes spying," the page was meant to be "entirely private" and could only be joined by invitation. One of the group's members however gave the password to managers who then fired Pietrylo and Marino for what was said on the page i.e. sexual remarks about restaurant management and customers, jokes about bad customer service standards, and references to violence and drug use. The federal jury in the case found against Houston's for breaching the federal Stored Communications Act and invasion of privacy. Plaintiffs were awarded maximum amount of back pay possible.

In Ireland there is currently no legislation to protect employees from employers requesting passwords. However there are some alternative ways in which to defend one-self against such intrusive requests. Employees could rely on the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003.The act states that anybody collecting data on individuals will not collect data which isn't relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they were collected. It is quite reasonable to argue that employers who are requesting passwords are doing so with no relevance to work and it's in excess of what's necessary to work.

Recommendations

There are some recommendations which could help in limiting the negative impact of social media on employment. Firstly for employers to limit the chances of being vicariously liable, they should block social media websites from being accessed at the workplace. This would result in less online comments being made during the course of employment thus limiting liability.

Secondly, company policies' governing social media should become common practice. These policies' should be comprehensive, and companies should ensure employees have read and understood the policy. Doing this will limit liability for employees in certain cases, for example in the UK case of Crisp v Apple, the plaintiff was dismissed for gross misconduct as he posted derogatory statement about his employer and the products they sold, online. He was dismissed which was held to be fair as he was informed and trained on the policies regarding the use of social media. Also the introduction of such policies' will help preserve employer reputation as employees will be informed as to what not to write online.

The idea of legislation in Ireland governing social media within the workplace should be drafted. The reason behind this statement is that social media is only going to become more prevalent in the modern world, there should be law which dictates what is freedom of expression and what is online slander. Defamatory statements made via the internet can have cases brought against by using The Defamation Act 2009.


Conclusion

It is important to realise that social media has both important benefits for employment and also questionable consequences. Social media can create more efficiency within employment but certain aspects need to be ironed out. It has been shown that there is privacy concerns which bring obstructive problems to the possible good uses for social media. Privacy is something which everyone should have where wanted, but it is up to employees to realise that social media platforms are public domains accessible by anyone. These platforms may allow a person to say whatever they like but it does not mean they should say whatever they like. Employers should take a more active role in helping to inform employees as to the issues which could arise from social media, the reason this is being said? Social media platforms are still rapidly growing meaning they can only become more of an integral part of people's lives.











































BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dr Anthony Curtis, 'The Brief History of Social Media' (University of North Carolina at Pembroke 2013) accessed 25th November 2014

Fortune 500 2014' (Fortune 2014) < http://fortune.com/> accessed 25th November 2014

Kellie O'Shea, 'Use of Social Media in Employment: Should I Fire? Should I Hire?' (Cornell HR Review 2012) < http://www.cornellhrreview.org/use-of-social-media-in-employment-should-i-fire-should-i-hire/> accessed 25th November 2014

Erica Swallow, 'How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates' (Mashable UK 2011) < http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic /> accessed 25th November 2014

Jennifer Grasz, 'Employers Passing on Applicants Due to Social Media Posts' (Career builder 2013) accessed 25th November 2014

Randy Duermyer, 'Introduction to LinkedIn' (About Money 2010) < http://homebusiness.about.com/od/linkedin/a/how-does-linkedin-work.htm > accessed 25th November 2014

Andrea Broughton, 'The use of social media in the recruitment process' [2012] , 19

Kelli A. Green, 'Diversity in the Workplace' (Scribd 2014) accessed 25th November 2014

P Springer, M Carson, Pioneers of Digital, Success stories (1st, Kogan page, London, Uk 2012) 132

Go Gulf, 'The role of social media in pre-employment screening' (Go Gulf 2014) < http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/social-media-pre-employment-screening /> accessed 25th November 2014

EQUAL STATUS ACT 2003 s section 42(1)

Otomewo v Carphone Warehouse [2012] EqLR 724

Kiernan v Awear [2007] UD643/2007 (EAT)

Preece v JD Wetherspoons plc [2011] 2104806/10

Sinead Hennebry , 'e.g. Administrative Law' (William Fry 2014) < http://www.williamfry.ie/publication-article/59_of_employees_in_ireland_access_social_media_sites_while_at_work.aspx > accessed 25th November 2014

Pietrylo V. Hillstone Restaurant Group [2009] 06- 5754 (D.N.J)

Data Protection (Amended) 2003 s 3(1)(a)

Crisp v Apple [2011] LW 1500258/11 (ET)

Defamation Act 2009



LEGISLATION

Equal status Act 2003
Data Protection Act(Amended)
Defamation Act 2009



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Student name: Bruce Waldron Student ID No.:12490742Page 2