It's 5 O'Clock -Do You Know Where Your Employees Are?

When the clock strikes 5:00 p.m at the end of a work day, (most) employees check out and head home - leaving their work at "work."

However, with the rise of social media technologies, it appears that separating one's personal life and work life is becoming quite the challenge. This then begs the question: Is your boss all of a sudden interested in what you do after work hours online? Or should the question be -Should your boss care what you do/say "online" after work hours?

That particular question walks a fine line. The truth is, organizations today need to be constantly watching their backs. If it isn’t their customers talking  potential "smack" on the web, it’s their actual employees. With more and more social networks popping up everyday, organizations are more worried than ever about their reputations and the reputations of their own employees.

Over 74 percent of executives believe “it is easy to damage a brand’s reputation via sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.” As a result, “60 percent of business executives say they have the “right to know” how employees portray themselves and their organizations online.”

When the clock strikes 5:00 p.m., does an employee have permission to post inappropriate pictures, comments and more importantly anything derogatory about their company? The answer to that question may seem like common sense to some  but for a large majority that is not the case. Our lives are busy and consumed with so many little things that we tend to forget about the “big picture.”

I relate this new workplace issue to eating candy. Picture this - you are at work and it's been a long day. A choice then appears - wait an extra hour to eat dinner or indulge in a quick pick me up of sweet, chocolate goodness that is a snickers bar. You might think to yourself, ”it’s only one candy bar on this one day - no big deal.” What if that one “no big deal" happened again and again - eventually it would morph into an unhealthy habit. 

The same goes for that "no big deal" comment you posted on your friends Facebook wall about your crappy day at work. Similar to that candy bar, it begins to add up and is hard to get rid of once it's there. Executives and managers are constantly watching what their employees are posting/talking about online. For some of us, this can be extremely frustrating. But unfortunately there is no stopping it. 

The best way to cope with this situation is to be always conscious of what you are saying/doing online. Constantly be feeding as much "vitamin C" into your profiles as you can. In the end, you will be ten steps ahead of most social networking users by doing so.