facebook posts being monitored

LegacyUser

Weird one, thanks to the wonderful world of Facebook.

I am part of a group on Facebook for a hobby I have. I also work for a place related to the hobby.

From my personal profile, I've posted about good service I've received from places that are not in competition with my place and have nothing to do with my job.

From my work account, I post special offers and stuff I'm asked to post.

I've been reprimanded for posting about a company I praised for good service (company is not in competition with my job, nowhere near my job, and it's a private group). I tried to discuss this with my manager but was cut across with a rude comment.

Can I be reprimanded for this? Personal profile, private group, posted on my own time, no mention of where I work, just someone seemingly spying on me.

thattequilagirl

Does your company have a social media policy?

LegacyUser

thattequilagirl wrote: »

Does your company have a social media policy?

No nothing like that. All that was ever mentioned (in contract and verbally) was a request to run the company's social media accounts. No mention of personal accounts.

duploelabs

How people have personal facebook profiles, not keep the access just to your personal friends, and then b!tch when work (or whomever) are reading them is beyond me

ZeroThreat

Best course of action is to ALWAYS assume that your employers are spying on you (and not just on social media).

davo10

I have heard of a lot of employers checking employees Facebook pages, particularly when they are out "sick" or performance issues arise. For some stupid reason, people feel compelled to post all the details of their life on Facebook so it isn't clever to post something on there that you might not want your employer or work colleagues to see. There is no issue with your employer viewing your Facebook site and discussing it with you but it is a bit insecure to be reprimanding you for praising other businesses. Chech your contract for a media clause, most have them now and prohibit employees from posting any material about their place of work on personal pages.

RacoonQueen

I think people are missing that this was posted on the OP's OWN TIME. What you post on Facebook is your business, no social media policy comes into it if you are not openly representing them while posting from your private profile.

Ash.J.Williams

The problem lies between the chair and the keyboard in this case

MarkR

facebookffs wrote: »

Weird one, thanks to the wonderful world of Facebook.

I am part of a group on Facebook for a hobby I have. I also work for a place related to the hobby.

From my personal profile, I've posted about good service I've received from places that are not in competition with my place and have nothing to do with my job.

From my work account, I post special offers and stuff I'm asked to post.

I've been reprimanded for posting about a company I praised for good service (company is not in competition with my job, nowhere near my job, and it's a private group). I tried to discuss this with my manager but was cut across with a rude comment.

Can I be reprimanded for this? Personal profile, private group, posted on my own time, no mention of where I work, just someone seemingly spying on me.

If it's a verbal warning, ask for something in writing detailing what exactly the issue was.

GBX

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

The problem lies between the chair and the keyboard in this case

Are you suggesting the OP is at fault? The OP is well entitled to post their personal opinion on Facebook - in personal time or whatever. Perhaps the employer feels there is a conflict of interest but as stated there is no direct competition with the company mentioned in the review and the employer.

desertcircus

Change your profile so only friends can access it. Ask for a copy of the social media policy so that you can see where you went wrong. And be careful dealing with this boss; he seems like a control freak.

razorblunt

I've seen instances where people have been reprimanded and even fired for FB activity (dodgy shares, status' etc).
I don't see the issue with what the OP is doing though. Are you friends with your manager and work folk on FB? I'd bin them.

I very selectively add work folk or accept invites based on if they are genuine friends or not, ran into an issue where someone commented loudly in work on my pics once. I was just out of college and I wasn't (nor am I) a huge FB user so most of my pics were of nights out and group photos. She got binned that day and has grumbled about it ever since.

On a related note, I don't understand why folk fill in their places of employment, that's just asking for trouble.
I mean that company called Full Time Mammy is going to have spend millions on training initiatives to teach their staff how to spell!

razorblunt

I've seen instances where people have been reprimanded and even fired for FB activity (dodgy shares, status' etc).
I don't see the issue with what the OP is doing though. Are you friends with your manager and work folk on FB? I'd bin them.

I very selectively add work folk or accept invites based on if they are genuine friends or not, ran into an issue where someone commented loudly in work on my pics once. I was just out of college and I wasn't (nor am I) a huge FB user so most of my pics were of nights out and group photos. She got binned that day and has grumbled about it ever since.

On a related note, I don't understand why folk fill in their places of employment, that's just asking for trouble.
I mean that company called Full Time Mammy is going to have spend millions on training initiatives to teach their staff how to spell!

mahamageehad

To be fair, I think people are missing the point here. The op may well have a personal, private Facebook page with no work "friends". But if he joins a group, let's say the Beer appreciation group, and his manager also joins that group they will see each other's posts even if not friends!!!! If OP worked at a brewery and posted about their beer that's fine. Actually, they are supposed to disclose that they work there. If they then, in their own free time at the weekend post a review of a new craft beer (not a competitor coz op's company makes Carlsberg) I don't see how they could be reasonably reprimanded for that. Defo check for a social media policy though. In many cases this also applies even when you're not at work!

seamus

To a certain extent, this can be a grey area.

If this hobby is pretty niche and a significant chunk of the community are aware of who the OP is and who they work for, then there's a fair argument that anything the OP does, he does as a representative of that company.

Most contracts would state that an employee must not do anything to bring a company into disrepute, and this includes inside and outside working hours and whether or not you're immediately identifiable as a company employee. This is why people who get put up on youtube shouting racist abuse on the bus, find themselves without a job the next day.

However, in the OP's case they are not doing anything to affect the reputation of the employer, so that wouldn't seem to apply.

You can lock your profile and comments down to be accessible to friends only, but the problem is that in a group posting then, your posts will go unseen. I would certainly suggest reviewing your security setup to ensure the minimum amount is publically viewable, but I would go back to the employer and ask for clarification on why the reprimand, and a copy of the company's policy in relation to this.

mahamageehad

seamus wrote: »

To a certain extent, this can be a grey area.

If this hobby is pretty niche and a significant chunk of the community are aware of who the OP is and who they work for, then there's a fair argument that anything the OP does, he does as a representative of that company.

Most contracts would state that an employee must not do anything to bring a company into disrepute, and this includes inside and outside working hours and whether or not you're immediately identifiable as a company employee. This is why people who get put up on youtube shouting racist abuse on the bus, find themselves without a job the next day.

However, in the OP's case they are not doing anything to affect the reputation of the employer, so that wouldn't seem to apply.

You can lock your profile and comments down to be accessible to friends only, but the problem is that in a group posting then, your posts will go unseen. I would certainly suggest reviewing your security setup to ensure the minimum amount is publically viewable, but I would go back to the employer and ask for clarification on why the reprimand, and a copy of the company's policy in relation to this.

I'm nitpicking now but I don't believe it's possible to influence who sees your posts, or your post permissions, for content posted within a group.

The advice about asking for clarification and the policy is good advice, I'd do it by email if I was you to ensure there's a paper trail.

spaceHopper

It sucks, but lets say you leave, the manager leaves and it 5 years you are going for a job they call up the company and all they have to gone on is the written record. The less in writing the better. make you own dated notes but leave at that. Changed your settings on FB so only friends can read your page. Clean out any work people who aren't friends outside of work. What ever you do don't use your own FB account in work, if you need to see the work page from an ordinary users page set up a test profile.

dreamers75

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I think people are missing that this was posted on the OP's OWN TIME. What you post on Facebook is your business, no social media policy comes into it if you are not openly representing them while posting from your private profile.

Do you honestly believe that?

duploelabs

dreamers75 wrote: »

Do you honestly believe that?

employers, employees, ex dates, future dates, we're a nation of curtain twitchers

Mrs OBumble

duploelabs wrote: »

employers, employees, ex dates, future dates, we're a nation of curtain twitchers

It's not unique to Ireland.

What you do in your own time is your own business. But you are still required to at least not bring your employer into disrepute: if it's a niche industry and "everyone" knows where you work, then posts that you make on FB, even in your own time, do reflect on your employer.