Human Resources

Human Resources

Name

Course

Instructor

Firing for Online Behavior

Firing is to terminate the employment or contract of an employee due to misconduct or poor performance (Drouin, Miller, Wehle & Hernandez, 2016). What takes place on media may not always remain there, people should still be cautious about what they post online because this could bomb them so severely in future mostly in their jobs. In most recent cases people are fired from their jobs because of what they posted on social media that was not appropriate. In other instances, people lose their job just because of a post they made long before they even started working even after they show their regret for the posts they still get fired.

Role of HR professionals

Human resource professionals are the people who ensure that employees are following the rules and regulations of the company. This includes keeping track of what the employees’ post to ensure that their posts do not reflect negatively to their organization (“Hiring and firing public officials: rethinking the purpose of elections”, 2011). In case of any offensive social media posts the HR takes responsibility and sermon the employee, and this eventually leads to one getting fired. In general, human resource professionals are the people who ensure the protection of their organisation’s brand and those of their employees and employers.

Grousing about Jobs on Social Media

Although organisations do not allow their employees to use social media in the workplace, this does not mean they can’t do the same outside work. When workers are dialoguing about poor working conditions, low pay rates and bad managers, no matter how bad the dialogue is it’s always protected by federal labour law. This is because all employees are also entitled to rights which include right working conditions and proper pay. Hence they cannot get fired for talking about the unfavourable working condition on social media (“Hiring and firing public officials: rethinking the purpose of elections”, 2011).

The internet has crossed lines and made employee’s lives meant to be private public, for instance, their religious beliefs, the political party they are affiliated to, their use of drugs and other individual issues. Also, some conversation that happened at their homes or any place off work and would have gone unnoticed are brought to light by social media. Today the world is so connected, and an online comment or photo spreads throughout so fast from one worker to the other and eventually lands to the magnitude of strangers (Drouin, Miller, Wehle & Hernandez, 2016).

Use of Offensive Words in Work Environment

Sometimes employees use offensive words on other employees, for instance, an employee calling another a cheat because they stole their tips. No matter how accurate their statements are as long as the conversation was not a dialogue then it’s not protected and this way one is at risk of losing his or her job (“Hiring and firing public officials: rethinking the purpose of elections”, 2011). These attacks are illegal and are a legal basis for termination as long as there is evidence to support the allegation. All employees should always be careful with their language at the workplace as this could cost them their jobs and termination makes their resume look bad when trying to find another job.

Social Screening

Employers should always conduct a screen online for all their job candidates, in most job interviews managers and HR professional have stated how they use online screening to vet their candidates. Those candidates whose social media raise flags are not offered the jobs. The red flags include the comments they make that are discriminatory about most life aspects, the negative statements they made about former co-workers and lastly the evidence that they gave the wrong information about themselves on their resume (Drouin, Miller, Wehle & Hernandez, 2016). Also, the panel usually ensures that all their applicants have a social media account and those who are invisible online lose the chance of getting the job offer.

The article helps to ensure that any supervisor and individuals who will manage employees, this way the employees can work according to the standard rules and regulation of the company. Also, it’s essential to ensure that the company gets back to its position by reassigning a new teammate, and when doing the reassigning, they should be vigilant on their new employee has a pleasing social media and nothing that could ruin the image of the company. Employees learn the importance of firing an employee following all the legal rules and ethics; this will avoid destroying their vision when the fired employee goes to the media about how they were fired without a proper cause (“Hiring and firing public officials: rethinking the purpose of elections”, 2011).

Social media is an essential network for employers because they use the profile of the candidates to select the best employees. All job searchers should always ensure that their profiles are free of any negative comments and posts that could keep them unemployed (“Hiring and firing public officials: rethinking the purpose of elections”, 2011). This is because the attitude one presents on social media depicts their personality and their view in the real world. An active social media profile shows that one is not afraid to be visible to the world and is not afraid to communicate with the different variety of people on social media.

Social media also provides a platform for people to talk about the issues they face in their fields of work and this will help to ensure that employers find a way to correct and solve these issues. Effective workplace is where employees are engaged fully in the job, and they are challenged to do better by the jobs offered, social media should be used as a learning platform for employees and ensures there is a development initiative for the same to provide that the firm grows to a better level with time (Drouin, Miller, Wehle & Hernandez, 2016).

References

Drouin, M., Miller, D., Wehle, S., & Hernandez, E. (2016). Why do people lie online? “Because everyone lies on the internet”. Computers In Human Behavior, 64, 134-142. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.052.

Hiring and firing public officials: rethinking the purpose of elections. (2011). Choice Reviews Online, 49(03), 49-1741-49-1741. doi: 10.5860/choice.49-1741.