Debate: Should Personal Social Media Usage Have an Effect on Employment? - Beth Wolf Blog Post #5

 For years, employers have been looking up potential hires and their personal social media pages to see what they might post in their free time before making a hiring decision. Does this person present themselves to us the same way that they present themselves to the world? Is this the vision we see for this role?

On one hand, I could understand where they are coming from in the case of LinkedIn. This person will be placing their new employment status on their profile and posting that they are excited to start their new position at their company!

For every other situation, unless it violates a strict policy or law, I don't think this is necessary and I also think it is a breach of the potential employee's privacy. The employer is not gaining unrestricted access to all of this person's time, both in and out of the workplace. Therefore, they have no claim to what the person wants to engage in when they are off the clock. I think it is an unreasonable expectation that every person has to present a professional exterior 100% of the time, including their time off the clock.

The reason I mentioned the caveat - unless it violates a strict policy or law - is because of the heinous story that recently broke in early September about some nurses in Santa Barbara, California who posted a video on TikTok that demeaned and made fun of patients. These nurses were fired and a full investigation was launched as a result. I believe this is a justified action as a result of something done on an employee's personal social media because they were posting work content that should not have been included in personal accounts. In addition, this content was disrespectful to their patients in an environment where they are dealing with very sensitive personal information. Serious harm to those individuals could have been done due to their lack of restraint. HIPAA is a federal law that protects patients from situations exactly like this.

However, like I said before, when I am off the clock, I do not want my social media posts to be monitored by my employer. And that is not to say that I post anything crazy. Mostly, it is just pictures of my cats and comments about the books I read. But that isn't really the point. To be able to exercise my freedom of speech and not be afraid that something I posted 14 years ago might come up and prevent me from obtaining a job I am otherwise more than qualified for is a dream of mine. And while I have severely restricted the privacy on all of my social media accounts, I am not sure how it works when employers pay for social media checks.

Question: What do you think about personal social media usage and employers checking on it? Do you agree with me that if you are posting off the clock, they shouldn't concern themselves with it? Or do you have another argument in the employers favor?

Comments

  1. Christina BeiderbeckeOctober 5, 2025 at 7:37 AM

    I think you are spot on with this post. The video the nurses made was a workplace related violation of privacy issues. I also agree with you that if you are posting personal items off the clock, and the posts are not in violation of a criminal law, the employers should not be concerning themselves with it. I have not applied for a new job for a few years now. I am wondering if after so many firings of teachers in the past month over posts made on their social media, is there a form that employers are now presenting to employees about consequences in connection with their personal social media?

    ReplyDelete

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