How Social Networking Is Changing Hr Practices free essay sample

MG4027 Meadhbh Teegan Long 102088584 Word count: 2048 How Social Networking is changing HR practices. It is fairly safe to say that the internet has changed the way we operate our personal and business lives. The more current issue is that social media has changed the way we organise our social and professional calendars and the way in which we correspond with others, both business and non-business. The continuing growth of social networks such as MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook etc. has significant ramifications for employers. In the ever advancing information age, social networks have become the newest tool of the HR manager. But just how useful can they really be to a HR manager? It is important to note that there are a host of different categories of social networking sites. Some focused at general friendships, others at specific interests and also those which concentrate on the user’s professional persona. As we know, a professional and private persona can be two different things so this choice of networking sites reflects this. We will write a custom essay sample on How Social Networking Is Changing Hr Practices or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Obviously the internet has changed HR techniques drastically in recent years, with the advent of online job posting, online testing and recruitment; HR managers now have more access than ever to candidates. However, the use of social networks for recruiting purposes is relatively new. But this use of social networks as a means of gaining information about a candidate is clearly on the rise. The â€Å"profile page† of a user of a social networking site may be accessed by anyone who is a member of the same networking site, subject to the privacy and security settings applied by the user themselves. The use of social networks for recruitment purposes is now a widely common practice due to its close relation to the act of posting an advertisement for a position on the internet. Social networks are even beginning to develop classified sections for job seekers and job posters. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn are becoming an increasingly valuable tool for employers in locating qualified candidates, and for candidates to display their credentials to potential employers. In theory the concept is ideal and it seems to work extremely well. As with everything, there are issues with legitimacy of information provided. How reliable and job-relevant the information provided is a big challenge which these professional social networks present. The use of social networking site presents a particular problem with regard to screening and selection. Unfortunately, while sites like LinkedIn can give a candidate an opportunity to sell themselves as professionals, networking sites which focus more on the social aspect can paint a completely different picture to employers. The practice of an employer accessing information about an employee or potential candidate via Facebook, MySpace etc. is still a relatively new behaviour. The difference is that while a candidate may build their LinkedIn profile to aim at employers, they build their Facebook profile to aim at friends and it’s this lax attitude which can be detrimental to their opportunities. With more than 400 million active users on Facebook alone, employers can now find almost all young job candidates on Facebook, MySpace, Google Plus or LinkedIn and take an unfiltered look at the real person behind the resume. Between 2008 and 2009, the percentage of employers who research job candidates using social networking sites rose from 22% to 45% (careerbuilder. com). There are potential pitfalls for employers using social networking sites to screen candidates. It is widely known to HR managers that you cannot, during the interview process, legally ask a candidate about their age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, health etc. As you cannot ask these questions and make hiring decisions based on those protected classes, you cannot then bypass the law by finding out that information by visiting the candidates profile on various social networking sites and then prevent the employment of the candidate based on that knowledge. Suddenly, with the advent of the â€Å"personal profile† an employer has more access to details of our lives, both those details which we choose to share with the employer or potential employer and also the information we intend to share with friends only. From a HR point of view, this can be both a friend and a foe. While it offers us a much better picture of the candidate, it does not always present an accurate idea of their lifestyle. Weve all heard the urban legends of people who posted inappropriate things about their employer or colleagues on Facebook, MySpace etc and got into serious trouble when their employer saw it. But does this really happen? In Genova’s No Place to Play, we are told that this is becoming a more common criterion for termination. Employers are learning that these social networking sites are a great way to â€Å"keep an eye on† employees. Genova highlights the lack of legislation in the area. While the employee’s right to privacy and other various older laws are relevant, there are few specific regulations on this monitoring behaviour. A large number of employers assume that it is acceptable to view and, where necessary, use information gained from social networking sites in recruiting and disciplining employees as long as specific laws (e. g. , civil rights laws) are not violated (Roberts Roach 2009). Without any legal understanding on the issue, surely it then becomes the responsibility of the employer to come up with a method of defining the terms of use. Companies are understandably concerned about how their employees might use these sites, given that 74% of the employees themselves believe that it is easy to harm a companys reputation on such sites (Deloitte 2009). As a result of this we see the advent of items such as this appearing in employment contracts. Many companies have begun introducing clauses preventing the employee from mentioning their place of work or naming fellow employees or managers on any virtual media into the contract of employment itself. This seems like a straightforward solution to the problem. A HR manager these days would need to be aware of the details and wording of these clauses and know how to place and use them correctly in order to protect both the company and the individual employee themselves. With these in place, companies may monitor social networking sites to make sure employees, or former employees, are not in breach of existing restrictive contracts in their employment agreements. With the right information and contract, it seems an employer can easy protect against any problems in this area so why do we still hear these urban myths? We know from Narisi that virtual networking on these social sites has given rise to a certain amount of exhibitionism which we did not see before. It seems that social networking sites are becoming the mainstay for creating, publicising and viewing all of our daily events and information. People can design and manipulate their â€Å"profiles† to suit themselves. You can fabricate events, people, and facts about yourself without having to validate any of them. This allows people to be freer with information creating what Narisi calls a false web of security. The implications of this are far more gravitas then you might imagine. Narisi says, the information age has allowed us to create not the picture of ourselves as we are but a picture of ourselves as how we would like the world to see us. Unfortunately, while this can have a positive effect and encourage people to be cautious about the information and personal details which they share on the internet, it can also have the opposite effect, causing people to, in essence, become braver and more forward. An individual who creates a profile may be attempting to impress friends, family, love interests, and/or employers, and the type of embellishment, lies or â€Å"faking† which the creator partakes in may depend on the intended viewer. It is the convenience and ease of seemingly harmless communication which causes some serious problems. For example, were an employee to post pictures of themselves drunk on nights out frequently, the employer is going to be more conscious of their drinking and this knowledge may influence any decisions made by the employer, regardless of the employees behaviour at work. These scenarios illustrate an emerging issue in HR – the use of online social networking sites to make HR decisions. According to SHRM (2008), 13% of employers use social networking sites to monitor and screen employees and candidates and 18% plan to in the future. However, Narisi (2009), suggests that the information on a website such as LinkedIn might be more accurate than a resume or cover letter because ones connections (i. e. Current and former colleagues) can view and presumably verify or contradict information provided. A further issue is how an employee might perceive the monitoring of their social networking profiles. The Deloitte (2009) study showed that over 50% of employees consider it a privacy violation on behalf of the company. But a further study by Baglione et al. (2009) found that students were somewhat neutral about employers viewing their social networking profiles. However, even more interestingly, neither study directly asked the subjects about their opinions on the use of data obtained from these websites for decision and disciplinary actions. Another area where research has been lacking is the quality of the decisions hich are actually made on the basis of information gathered via these social networking sites. Is the information as accurate and reliable as we believe? Of course, this question cannot be answered easily as the answer will obviously vary based on the individual providing the data but its important that a HR manager be aware of the potential for inaccuracy and therefor e attempt to validate the information either directly or via another means. Basing a decision on what is essentially a third-party viewpoint (the employer being the third-party) may not be entirely fair on the employee. It is also imperative that employers be aware of the inadmissible nature of some information which is gathered by certain investigation techniques and are at all times conscious of the legal restrictions and consequences of making decisions based on the information gathered from social media. It is imperative that any HR manager is, at all times, protecting the business and employees. In the case of Hewlett Packard in 2006: The company hired private investigators to assist them in finding the source of an information leak. The investigators used fake names on social networking sites along with hidden tracking software attached to the employee’s emails an attempt to track the conduct of the employees. This conduct was however illegal, according to the court, due to the act of posing as someone else to garner information about the employees. As a result, instead of stemming a data leak problem, the then chairman of Hewlett Packard and the six directors either resigned or were fired. The chairman was charged with convicted, as was the company’s senior counselling chief officer. In conclusion, many HR managers and companies seem to be using various social networking websites to make important decisions such as identifying, screening and terminating employees. However, many of these organisations do not seem to have a policy in place for using these sites (Deloitte 2009). It is imperative to make employers aware of these emerging issues and their implications for the company and to provide guidance to their employees, procedures to their HR managers and most importantly, set certain policies in place at a contract level to benefit both employees and employers alike. Perhaps we should all use social networking sites with the mind-frame that our mother is watching (as she may well be! ). Bibliography Deloitte. (2009). Social networking and reputation risk in the workplace: Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics workplace survey results. Http://www. deloitte. com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_2009_ethics_workplace_survey_220509. pdf Genova, G. L. (2009). No place to play: Current employee privacy rights in social networking sites. Business Communication Quarterly. Narisi S. (2009). Social networking profiles more accurate than resumes? From http://hrtechnews. com/social-networking-profiles-more-accurate-than-resumes/. Roberts, S. J. , Roach, T. (2009). Social networking sites and human resource personnel: Suggestions for job searches. Business communication quarterly. SHRM Staffing Research (2008). Online technologies and their impact on recruitment strategies. Www. shrm. org. Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics (revised). www. Careerbuilder. com