Work owns me and my words 24/7

[NateTheChops]

This is why I've just adopted a policy of not getting friendly with anyone off the clock. Professionally courteous, yes, but not friendly.

Because then you get too complacent and you say things that the coworker could easily use against you and your facebook and myspace accounts are basically the 24/7 equivalent of having your coworkers out for a beer.

None of the companies I've worked for have ever had a specific policy against posting online. K-Farts actually encourages employees to post current sales online and right now the Bent Staple is doint some kind of promotional deal connected to Twitter.

But the bottom line is, if you don't want someone to read it or to take it out of context, then don't post it and don't say it to them.

[Shalom]

Here's a webcomic from fourteen years ago, back when webcomics were still in their infancy, talking about this very same thing. There were no "social networks" then, no blogs, even LiveJournal was a decade in the future, but Usenet was running strong, and old postings were known to come around and bite you in the ass.

[Pimento]

I get it though, i dont think its necessarily a bad thing that they monitor facebook and stuff.

If you have a problem at work, you should bring it up at work. From an employer standpoint, youre just harboring all those negative feelings and starting fires by complaining on public forums. Nobody wants their dirt aired online for all to see.

Of course, not all work places are good, or even decent at dealing with issues, which is why anonymous forums like this need to exist.

[jedimaster91]

This is the reason all my Facebook stuff is set to Friends Only and I watch what I say. I'm also careful here since I work in a very small, specialized field. There are some things that have happened I don't dare post anywhere just to be safe.

Still, employers are going way too far. It's one thing if you say something like "Joe's hobby shop is run by evil gerbils who will gleefully devour the soul of your first born child" but "rough day at work, customers driving me nuts" is innocuous. Hey, companies, here's a brilliant idea: start treating your employees like people and they'll have less reason to gripe about you online.

[AccountingDrone]

I have a web presence that gives me the ability to grant people email addresses. I have issued several to friends who want to remain absolutely anonymous online, and have facebook accounts under the funky email address.

They have a personal facebook and a public facebook. They rarely do anything with the public one, just enough to make it look like their only one. They tag photos with generated nicknames. It makes them very hard to find =)

[Peppergirl]

I'm pretty lucky. I have alot of co-workers and even a boss or two as friends on my FB, but then again, I don't say anything truly harsh.

This morning I posted that I regretted working 4a-8a for overtime, and one of my bosses saw it and emailed me and said she's signing me up for all those shifts next week, since she knows I love 'em.

[DrFaroohk]

I didn't read every post in this thread (it's long!) but here's some tips I use sometimes to keep people in the dark:

1) Make sure any profiles you have are private, so no one but people you approve can even see you.

2) Don't even post the name of your employer on your profile. If you work for Wal-Mart, don't say Wal-Mart.

3) Make up a fake profile and use that to bitch about work. They can't really prove it's you, can they?

4) My favorite - make up similar stories that can't really be proven it's about work. If you're pissed about something your boss said, then you post about something similar that your mom said to you. "Aw my mom is such a bitch, she said I can't wear blue shirts around the house anymore." When you really mean your boss said you can't wear blue shirts to work.


OT question, but on the subject of contract stuff like this...is ANY contract enforcable as long as it was signed? I.e. could an employer put something in a contract like "I, the undersigned, agree that upon termination I will NEVER seek unemployment compensation based on my employment here" or "I agree that I will never sue my boss for sexual harassment, no matter the circumstances."

[Argus]

OT question, but on the subject of contract stuff like this...is ANY contract enforcable as long as it was signed?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscionability

For reference, my apartment lease (chosen as a lengthy contract that I have handy) includes a clause labelled SEVERABILITY:

If any provision of this Lease is deemed invalid under applicable law, such provision shall be ineffective to the extent of such invalidity only, without invalidating the remainder of the Lease agreement.

(In other words, if some part of the contract is unenforceable, it's just that one part.)

[poofy_puff]

If something is illegal, it can't be enforced by contractual agreement.

This is one reason why drug dealers don't have written contracts. "Your honor, it says RIGHT THERE in the contract SIGNED BY THE DEFENDANT that he gets TEN PERCENT of the profits from the cocaine sales, NOT FIFTEEN PERCENT."

[protege]

Ah Facebook drama! I'm so glad that even though I do have my work info listed...I rarely even talk about work. Well, other than to say "eating a sandwich at my desk" or something. Also, I do have a couple of coworkers--one is still there, the other got let go--listed as friends. She knows better than to comment on anything I post. If she does, I could get her into some serious shit

Anyhoo, if I'm going to bitch about work, I tend to do that in my LJ, or rant about it on here. Of course, I'll change the names, and will wait a couple of days before posting. even though nobody knows who I am over here, I have to be careful.

[aurelemsrealm]

We discuss this issue frequently in my computer science courses. The tone of these particular discussions is to make us aware that unexpected and undesireable consequences could result from our online presence if we post unflattering or inflammatory content. In other words, be very careful about what you post and where you post it.

My personal opinion is that employers have no right whatsoever to snoop around in my personal life. What I do and who I associate with off the clock is my concern. Anyone I don't invite personally is a trespasser into my personal life as far as I am concerned.

Having said my personal opinion, I try to be careful about posting too many details when ranting and raving about something because I know the real world is too damned nosey for its own good. I never post anything that I'd be afraid to say in person. My supervisors and coworkers already know that I have a good number of rants about the workplace, so I stick to those rants and keep it fairly generic. My manager is a friend on both MySpace and Facebook, but we seem to have similar opinions about our workplace. I don't really post much of anything in those places, but what little I do post is stuff I've already said in person at work.

So, I'm careful and selective about what I post and where I post it. Even so, I don't think employers have a right to barge into employees' personal lives.

[blas]

I just stick to bitching on break privately with coworkers that I trust.

Although there are two employees on my friend list who have been recently fired who keep talking crap about their former boss on their Walls.....and people who are STILL employed are even responding and encouraging them. That boss does have a FB account but I doubt she's on their lists....I wonder what will become of that.

[technical.angel]

Boston.com

It was decided it's illegal to fire someone over FB posts.

[Andara Bledin]

Boston.com

It was decided it's illegal to fire someone over FB posts.

Technically, it's been illegal to do that for quite some time.

However, it's up to the employee to prove that it was actually the Fb post that led to the termination and not other issues.

I'm not sure that woman has as strong a case as the prosecution hopes, since what prompted the post in the first place was that she was asked to prepare a report regarding a customer having complained about her and it's reported this was the second such report.

^-.-^

[Retail Associate]

We had to sign a similar statement last year. Two people were fired for airing dirty laundry about the hellhole store on Facebook. When I was told they needed my signature I almost said, "So, <company name> doesn't want people to know the truth about this place?"

Fortunately, I held my tongue.