Should Employees Publicly Support Social Issues?
If you are unfamiliar with the story, reports are still unclear about every detail of the incident, but media outlets are saying that sometime early afternoon last Saturday, Brown and his friend were walking when an officer approached them. The officer alleged that a scuffle in his vehicle occurred, a shot was fired and news reports say that Brown was eventually shot multiple times.
Peaceful demonstrations took place after the incident, followed by rioting as the citizens of Ferguson demanded justice for what they believed was an unnecessary killing.
Since making national headlines, protests and gatherings all over the country have occurred, recently a National Moment of Silence (promoted under the Twitter hashtag #NMOS14) where on Aug 14, 2014, people gathered in many cities around the nation to honor victims of gun violence and police brutality.
Our nation’s capital was one of the participating cities with more than 1,000 people gathering in support.
I was one of the attendees.
And as I observed the many different faces, ethnicities, ages and representation of both sexes, I thought about how each of those people had a different background, yet were all gathered under one common cause. This event obviously meant something to them—I’m certain varying reasons for each—for the people to not only show up but show up with hand-made signs and posters and to take pictures and video to share online and via social media.
In fact, the event organizers urged attendees to share photos and videos online to continue creating awareness around this issue.
And as a writer of recruitment and job seeker/job search related content, this led me to think about social media, social activism and the new challenges job seekers and employees face.
You see, technically, I am an independent contractor, meaning I fall into the “self-employed” category. Yet, there are millions upon millions of Americans who do not. Many in the workforce are employees of a business and organization. And as employees, most would argue that they represent their employers, whether in the office, in the field, or online.
Take this snippet from a Complex Magazine article about how social media has caused people to get fired:
When you’re employed by a company, you become a representative of that company. Whether you like it or not, when you leave your place of work you have to keep up appearances, make it look like the people giving you a paycheck are not completely out of their minds. Same goes for your online behavior.
We’ve all heard about countless stories where an employee was terminated for a remark, post or photo he/she uploaded to his/her social network profile(s).
That’s pretty commonplace: An employer isn’t likely to hire or keep an employee that doesn’t reflect its “equal opportunity employer” values and openly posts derogatory comments.
But what about social activism? What about someone supporting a cause or fighting against an issue that is in line with his/her values? Should this affect one’s hire-ability or retention scores?
As I saw so many different people openly supporting this cause, I wondered if they had to consider whether or not their public display (via posting images/video to social media) would hinder 1) their job search and/or 2) their current employment status.
What if a company doesn’t like to take a stand (or side) on a social issue, yet his/her employee is an active and open supporter of a controversial issue? Should the company terminate the employee, i.e. ensure its “representation” is accurate?
We all know that recruiters use social media when recruiting; in fact, Jobvite’s most recent social recruiting survey revealed that 94 percent of recruiters used or planned to use social media in their recruitment efforts last year.
So, what happens if a recruiter conducts background research on a qualified candidate and sees a protest photo or reads tweets he or she sent supporting a controversial issue? Will this affect the recruiter’s decision to move forward with the candidate? And is this possibility something job seekers should consider before exercising their freedom of speech?
This issue makes me think about Brooke Harris, the teacher who was fired in 2012 after (from the requests of her students) tried to create a fundraiser to support Trayvon Martin’s family. Another case was in 2010 when then CNN Senior Middle East Editor, Octavia Nasr, tweeted her respect for Lebanon’s Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Fadlallah, news story said, was linked to bombings that killed many Americans, yet Nasr explained that she supported his stance on human rights. She was ultimately fired for her tweet.
As previously mentioned, I am self-employed; my actions reflect me, and in a sense, myself as a business. So, when posting online, I have to decide if I’m okay with others knowing (and even making assumptions) about my personal activities and interests. Whatever I choose to publicly support on seemingly personal social media profiles can positively or negatively affect me as an entrepreneur—and I have to consider this.
The waters become slightly murkier when it comes to a job seeker or an employee. On one end the person wants to support a cause or issue near and dear to his/her heart, but on the other end the job seeker and/or employee would need to consider how social activism would be perceived by a recruiter or employer and how those perspectives could negatively affect him/her in the future. Unfortunately, employees don’t just represent themselves; so, they don’t get to determine if they’re okay with the possibility of people negatively perceiving their employer’s brand due to their personal actions and interests.
What are passionate workers to do?
I know that thousands chose to openly support this cause last Thursday and even display their actions on social media, but I’m certain not every worker is as comfortable openly supporting an issue, even in his/her personal time.
What do you think, Recruiter.com readers—workers, employees, entrepreneurs and employers? Should an employee have the right to openly support social issues without his/her views reflecting his/her employer (and ultimately affecting employment)? Or does one give up his/her freedom of speech rights when becoming an employee?