Does a Worker’s Personal Life Affect your Brand?

 Or could it? And should you, as an employer, even be monitoring the outside-of-work lives of your employees?

I ask this because of an interesting AP story I recently read about a U.S. Department of Homeland Security employee who has been put on paid leave for running a racist website.

The article explains:

The Homeland Security Department says an employee who runs a racist website predicting and advocating a race war has been put on paid administrative leave.

An acquisitions officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement who deals with small businesses, Ayo Kimathi, operates the website War on the Horizon. It includes descriptions of an “unavoidable, inevitable clash with the white race.” Kimathi is black.

Kimathi has been with the department since 2009. He was told Friday that he is being put on paid administrative leave.

His website criticizes whites, gays, those of mixed race, and blacks who integrate with whites. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, earlier this week reported on Kimathi’s role in running the site.

Now, as the DHS, anything that might threaten the safety of Americans and our nation in general is a concern. So, talks of race wars and violence are obvious red flags. And these “talks” stemming from the Department’s own worker, I’m assuming, would be even more alarming.

I’m not familiar with how the DHS operates in relation to its employees and privacy, but this leads me to wonder about businesses in general. Having a DHS employee operate a racist website obviously negatively affects the Department’s employer brand. Most would think, how is this part of government supposed to protect our nation if it’s workers can be associated with the very threats its designed to diminish?

But what about the majority of “regular” organizations? Can an employee’s outside-of-work activities negatively impact your brand? And do employers even have the right to monitor (and protect themselves) from such cases?

For example, let’s say you run a recruiting firm and discover that one of your recruiters owns and operates a website advocating religious intolerance. The worker’s track record shows no instances of him/her expressing this idea in the workplace and he/she has no “work background” of workplace discrimination. Yet, you just happen to learn that outside of work during his/her personal time, the worker operates a religious intolerance website filled with hateful speech, ideas, and even initiatives (and/or petitions) to create mass anti-religion movements. (For example, maybe the worker is pushing for a mass exodus of Christians from America).

What do you do? Anti-religion really has nothing to do with your company’s mission as a recruitment firm like a racist, war-inciting website relates to the DHS’ operations.

Saying you (or another worker) just happened to randomly discover this person’s website, should this now be a company concern? Or does the worker have the right to express his/her ideas outside of the workplace as long as they don’t carry over into the work environment? If clients and/or customers discover this particular website and its association with your worker, it will most likely deter them away from your business and harm your brand and reputation. Should you, as an employer, have the right to rectify this type of situation?

Or, let’s say you discovered this worker’s website from a routine “outside-of-work check” where your company regularly monitors the non-work related activity of its workers. Perhaps your company regularly monitors social media activity and/or outside organization activity (like volunteering, others jobs, continuing education, etc.). In a world where online presence (and reputation) matters so much for both individuals and corporations, is it justifiable to “monitor” and keep track of what your worker does off the clock?

Is there a line between protecting your employer brand and invasion of employee privacy? Share your thoughts (and/or experiences).