Social media is a relative newcomer in the world of candidate and employee screening. In recent years there has been growing awareness of the impact of an individual’s online actions and what this can mean for their employer and fellow employees. This area of technology-based communications is increasingly under scrutiny from the UK Government – not least through the Online Safety Act, the powers of which are still evolving. However, whatever the legal position, companies must also be aware of the reputational damage that can occur when an employee takes to social media to give voice to views which others may find unsavoury or controversial.
Unsurprisingly businesses are seeking guidance on this issue, trying to work out what they need to do to protect themselves without infringing on the freedom of their employees. They need to determine what is and isn’t acceptable online behaviour for their business, but they also need to implement the right systems and processes for identifying and managing this kind of behaviour when it occurs.
What do you need to start?
A well thought out and clearly communicated policy is the bed rock organisations need to start social media screening. Monitoring and assessing online behaviour cannot be an ad hoc activity and without a clear approach on this issue there will always be the temptation for an HR or hiring manager to carry out their own ‘unofficial’ social media check. It’s a huge temptation just to go online and see what they can find – but the problem with this is that any analysis of material found will be subject to that individual’s own bias and beliefs. It will not be an objective assessment and could therefore leave the company open to accusations of unfairness from the employee or candidate in question. To be clear, any screening needs to be carried out methodically and based on the core values and risk appetite of the employer.
A company’s risk appetite effectively describes what the business considers to be acceptable or unacceptable behaviour from its employees. This can cover divisive and prejudiced language but it may also include the analysis of organisations followed by an individual, or other online behaviour they exhibit.
How to use the findings
As part of the search process, the organisation should also consider when these views or actions occurred. Today’s employees and candidates have grown up online so messages sent years ago may not reflect who that person is now. In some circumstances it may be appropriate to give the individual a chance to explain why they did what they did, to delete offending messages and otherwise correct their online behaviour. It should be remembered that there’s a human being on the other end of all online activity and they deserve a right to respond.
Deciding what to do as a result of these findings is very much down to the particular circumstances of the message in question. We have seen police investigating historical messages placed online, trying to determine if serious crimes have been committed, so while there may be mitigating circumstances some messages cannot be discounted entirely.
Again, the organisation’s risk attitude will determine the response and how far back in an individual’s history is deemed appropriate. Whatever the parameters of the screening process are, they need to be made transparent alongside clear indications of what is and isn’t acceptable. This information needs to be communicated effectively to candidates and existing employees so expectations are managed and people can even self-select out of the process if they wish.
Should you conduct social media screening?
Employers may be tempted to take the view that what occurs online and in an individual’s personal account has nothing to do with them, but this ignores the way social media works and the significance of the online world. Employers now expect their employees to be online advocates of their business – to promote the brand directly and indirectly and to be enthusiastic about being a part of the organisation. Good, positive messaging from existing employees will attract others to want to work for the business. Negative and even headline grabbing messages can swiftly destroy or at least compromise a business’ reputation sometimes overnight. For this reason, not addressing the online behaviour of candidates and staff is a risk few businesses will want to take.
Want to talk about your social media screening strategy? Get in touch at UKenquiries@accurate.com.
