Social Media has a significant influence on people these days. The HR magazines quote that number of employees are using social media on the company network or Wi-Fi. Some legal issues to it ascertain privacy between employer and employee.
The legal aspects of using Social media during work time leads to many court cases and confusion among people. One of the companies in Britain was said to lose capital due to the use of Social media in their workplace, which lead to defamation and data theft.
Many companies restrict the use of Social Media on their company network to ensure privacy and data security. But employees use Social media for their personal use. And hence, it can be arguable that the company cannot restrict the use of personal communication in the workplace.
Employers Expectation
The main objective of the management of the company is to promote the business of the company. For this reason, they undergo various phases from the development of the product to marketing to customer services. They need to be in touch with the internet because the internet opens a vast arena for the business and business owner. The employers expect from the employees work productivity and security of the work data that they possess. However, there is a silver lining between the expectation of the employer towards the employee and the actual execution of a trust by the employees.
The Privacy Laws
The Privacy Law of an employee keeps them safe from any activity that will hinder their privacy or personal communication with family. While the privacy law of an employer makes them safe that their business is kept from harm and loses. Some companies ask their employees to had over the FaceBook ID and password for regular investigation. This invokes the privacy rights of the employees.
Although, the company wants to make ensure that employees are not stealing the company data and selling them over the internet. They also look for the communication, which leads to the fact that employee is not communicating with the rivals about the business.
Too Much Restriction
The company should understand that too much restriction on the employees about using Social Media is not reasonable as well as practical. The limitation of posting about the work culture and employee satisfaction should be allowable as it is the right of the employee to able to express their thoughts in public. However, the company can restrict the employees about sharing the company policies and wage structure in Social Media as it will lead to industry competition.
The law is made for everyone in unity. Law should not be used to overcome the difficulty for one segment. The interpretation of law sometimes becomes a question for the people and results in confusion. But it should be kept in mind that law does not discriminate among a segment of people. While using Social Media to discuss one’s feelings is acceptable, but it should not bring embarrassment to the company in which he works. The employers should respect the privacy of the workers, and employees should secure the business of the employer.
