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25-September-2007
Facing up to the Facebook challenge
Unless you’ve been living in a darkened room for the last few months, you cannot have avoided the phenomenon that is Facebook and the other online social networking sites, such as MySpace and Bebo. Facebook claims to be “a social utility that connects you with the people around you”, enabling users to conduct their social lives, make new friends and join discussion groups without leaving the comfort of their own desk. With the popularity of such websites increasing rapidly – London has recently become the city with the most Facebook users in the world - the potential problems for employers abound.
It was reported in the news recently that more than two thirds of employers had banned or restricted their employees from accessing Facebook (companies such as LloydsTSB, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs) on the grounds that the use of Facebook reduced productivity in the workplace and posed a security threat to the company. Is this an over-reaction bearing in mind such risks already exist with general internet and email use in the work place?
The risk identified with Facebook users is that employment details are being posted on the user’s profile pages, which potentially leaves the employer open to corporate fraud or infiltration of company systems. Just under a half of users are prepared to divulge personal details to other users online and so the risk that confidential information will fall into the wrong hands is a very real one. This recent publicity has left employers unsure how to proceed: should they allow employees to access online social networking sites during working hours or should they follow the lead of those companies who have imposed an outright ban?
With the right approach, employers can still allow their employees to indulge in the increasing trend that is online social networking, yet still protect their business from the potential risks caused by indiscreet employees or professional cyber criminals. For example, an existing email and internet policy should already deal with email and internet usage, but it could be updated to take account of the specific use of social networking sites. For example, the policy should give guidance on what is acceptable usage, times when the sites can be accessed and how to use privacy settings to protect sensitive information from being disclosed. Most importantly, the policy should also make it clear that breaches of the policy will result in disciplinary action against the employee. Employees should also be reminded that their usage of such sites will be monitored under the company’s monitoring policy. If such policies do not exist, they should be introduced as a priority in order to protect employers if things do go wrong.
Employees will always find an outlet to talk about work and their employer and rather than try and prevent this by imposing an outright ban on using online networking sites, employers would fare better by being upfront about what they expect from their staff. This will inevitably minimise any security breaches or damage to reputation.
On a final note, employers who are tempted to use social networking profiles to gain information about potential candidates during the recruitment process would be advised to think again; basing a recruitment decision on information gleaned from such a profile may leave the employer vulnerable to a claim of discrimination or a challenge that the decision is unfair or biased.
ENDS
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