A few months ago a friend of mine and I were talking about the role of companies in the social networking world. He’d told me that his employer had instated policies in regards to blogging, Facebook status updates, and video journals. They summed up to one thing, you can no longer talk about your job on these mediums and doing so will bring repercussions, such as getting fired. This news inflamed me. Why? Because I don’t believe corporations have a right to control what you can and can not do on your non company paid time.
Let’s put this into perspective. I do believe companies should protect their proprietary products, services, trade secrets, and the like. It’s important to keep a lid on that information and not have some idiot post a Facebook status declaring the breakthrough company invention of a bald cure. I get that. But where I draw the line is when an employers policies seem to indicate that you can’t write about a bad work day in your online public blog. Somewhere it’s inferred that you have to pretend like you are at work and not say anything you wouldn’t say if you were on company time. But wait… I’m not on company time therefore the company should have no baring on what I do or not write about.
For instance, if I have a particularly frustrating day where I have had a disagreement with a co-worker and I write about it, though not using names or giving away company secrets or consumer information, should the employer then have a right to fire me over such a discussion? I don’t believe they do. When does a frustrated status update such as “Omg my job sucks right now!” turn into company policing situation? Clearly, there are times where you hate what you’re doing, but more often than not it’s a fleeting and stress filled reaction. As soon as the irritant has passed you’re back to what you love. And with such vague policies in place, what’s to stop an employer from canning you just because of something trivial like this? It’s putting a lid on the way people act and in my opinion is going to create a more disgruntled work force.
Blogging is the new private journal that your sibling steals and reads. Except we of course put our thoughts out into the great wide web in an effort to connect to others with similar ideas. Putting limits on these communications will only increase the stress felt at the workplace. If you now have to worry about your personal domains being scrutinized by your employer even when you aren’t at work, how is that going to effect the way you perform your job? Sure, you have the means to vent to friends and family about the situation, but you shouldn’t have to seek out secondary alternatives just because you are afraid of corporate repercussions.
My time is my own and provided that what I write isn’t illegal or spilling company secrets, no one should have the right to tell me what I can or can not blog about. I have opinions about people, situations, and yes the occasional conflict at work. Being employed shouldn’t mean I have to muzzle those feelings when I am not at work. But if that’s the case then I propose a censorship wage to be applied for employees personal hours to justify the social networking policies put into place. If you want me to act like I’m at work… then pay me like I’m at work as well.
Oh and these opinions are my own and in no way reflect those of the company I work for.
Muzzled by Army Brass.
