Can Your Employer Access Your Facebook Account?
There has been a lot of media excitement this month about employers asking employees for their social media account passwords. This has become such an issue that On April 27, 2012, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., introduced the Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA).
I’m appalled that employers think this is an acceptable practice. It seems like the modern-day equivalent of tapping your phone, or bugging your apartment. Are employers really so paranoid that employees are going to say something bad about the company that they feel the need to invade their privacy?
Some employers would justify their actions by saying they need that access to investigate insider trading or harassment complaints. There are other ways to accomplish those things. Why not spend their energy making their organizations better places to work and avoid the problems that way?
Some states are even taking the initiative to introduce regulations at their level, and not wait for the federal act. Maryland, New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey (although NJ postponed their vote) all have something passed or on the table. So, protection for employees is coming.
In the meantime, employees should consider the following:
- be sure their privacy settings are restricted to “friends only”
- be especially careful about friending anyone they work with, or who works at a prospective employer
- don’t take a job with an employer who requires you to give out your password – that says so much about the work environment
After you do your reading, tell me what you think about all this…
Pay For The Job or The Person?
One of my colleagues recently asked me whether it was appropriate to pay a new hire more money than existing employees in the same position because the new hire had more education/experience. As with most human resource questions, the answer isn’t cut and dried. Let’s follow a fictional example and see where it takes us.
I’m the CEO of Snail Mail Inc. I employee stamp stickers and envelope stuffers. Most of my employees have basic skills and education and do a fine job with those qualifications. They get paid $10/hour.
Due to snail mail being in vogue, I need to hire another stamp sticker. I’ve gone through the normal recruitment process, and have found a candidate that I want to hire. The candidate will be performing the same work as the other stamp stickers. However, this candidate has a Masters degree in Orchestral Composition from Julliard and 20 years of stamp sticking experience. I decide to pay this person $20/hour because of these additional qualifications.
Before implementing this decision, I should ask myself these questions:
- Are the candidate’s education and experience relevant to the job?
- Will the candidate be using those skills and experience in the job they are being hired for?
- Will I alter the scope of the position to leverage the candidate’s additional skills and experience?
If the answers to these questions are “yes”, then I may be able to pay them more than the other stamp stickers.
Here are a few cautionary notes to consider because, let’s face it, employees talk about their pay to each other:
- When the other stamp stickers find out the new person gets paid more, how will that affect their morale?
- Are the lesser paid people the same gender as the new hire? The Equal Pay Act (EPA) requires that men and women performing similar work under similar conditions must receive similar pay. You also don’t want it to appear that you are discriminating against the other employees because of their age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or other protected status.
- Will paying the new person more give them an unwarranted sense of entitlement?
In the end, it’s best to pay a person for the work they are performing now, not what they might do, have the potential to do, or have done in the past.
Crucial Conversations Video looks like DirectTV
Have you seen the new video ad for Crucial Conversations 4? It looks an awful lot like what we’ve been seeing from DIRECTV.
That’s too bad because in my mind copying someone else’s brand makes me wonder if their updated package is all that innovative itself. The original Crucial Conversations was a truly fantastic tool. I’ve seen VitalSmarts present at conferences and have always found their material interesting and helpful.
What do I think of the new product? Honestly, I haven’t even looked at it yet. I was so surprised at them riding the wave of someone else’s concept that I forgot about the product itself. Hmmm…maybe something to consider for the rest of us when choosing our marketing tactics?
Compass Client In The News
It’s always a little thrilling to get the Portland Business Journal in the mail and see one of my clients featured. This week the shout goes out to Brian Simmons, President of Fluid Market Strategies.
Brian and I have known each other for 10 or 12 years now. When we met, I was HR Manager and he was a Project Manager at Ecos Consulting. Over the years I came to value Brian’s vision of how company culture should be managed and maintained – how essential it is to an organization’s overall success. Success not just financially, but in reputation and fan base. He and I have always shared a similar vision.
When I started Compass, Brian sought me out to help him as he got Fluid up and running. Fluid was my first client. As they grew, my admiration and respect for Brian and his staff grew exponentially. I still hold them up as the gold standard of how to preserve a great culture through change, growth, bumps in the road and acquisitions.
In the Business Journal article, Brian states that his guiding principle is “Do the right thing and die with more friends than money.” That sums up every reason that Brain continues to be a role model for me.
Best of everything, Brian, you deserve it!
How to Hire If You Want to Get Fired – YouTube
Manpower posted this on their blog recently. It’s one of the best and most hilarious illustrations of bad interviewing that I’ve ever seen. Watch the video and check out their blog…
Hello world!
Welcome to our brand new web site! We are so excited to be able to offer updated information, tools, and resources.
Right now we’re still building things, so expect frequent updates.
As soon as the main site is up to snuff, we’ll start posting regular blog entries right here.
Also coming soon:
Compass Facebook page
More templates
Maybe even some videos
