The Work Clinic

Two words spring to my mind in response to the range of questions posed here – “responsibility” and “accountability”. The net and all its array of open access chat/discussion forums does mean that anyone can indeed “voice their own opinions to more people than ever before” but that isn’t a “licence to offend.” People should recognise that anything they put their name to can mean that the “more people” could at some point include their current and potentially future employers.

In my case, I choose not to espouse my own extremist view that Queens Park Rangers are indeed the finest football team the world has ever seen to that wider online community (whoops I just did – see how easy it is to slip up?) for fear of a future backlash...
But seriously, people need to be aware that anything once online tends to stay online – it’s easier to post than to get things deleted. That’s where the accountability comes in.

On the vexed question of political screening – let’s be very careful here. We live in a free country where our political affiliations (if any) are usually private between us and the ballot box – exactly the way it should be. Whatever anyone might think should be the case too, the fact is that the BNP is not currently a banned political organisation. The only obvious exceptions to more general political disclosure would seem to be the current ones where it might have a direct impact on job performance (local government, Civil Service, etc.) Of course some will have different views on the interpretation of those words “direct impact” – let’s just pass along the next can of worms to open, shall we ...?

It’s important to appreciate that from a legal standpoint, employers can be held liable for the actions of their employees and so if they use a work computer to cause offence or harassment towards other staff then employers could end up in hot water. It’s important therefore to have a clear policy on issues such as blogging and internal communication. From a recruitment perspective, while at CBSbutler, we are not in favour of using social networking sites such as Facebook for screening, individuals have to face up to the fact that anything they decide to put into what is ostensibly the public domain can and may well be viewed by potential employers. What employers must do is to ensure that any information they glean whether that be membership of political parties or any other personal information -and make use of - is used within the context of current discrimination law.