Employee social media behavior has become a big issue for many businesses, and social media exposure is becoming an almost daily occurrence. Over the past few years, the public has witnessed several people lose employment and livelihood over a horrible social media post. We’ve seen;

• Roseanne Barr’s tweet about Valerie Jarrett
• James Gunn’s Twitter comments about rape and pedophilia
• Robert “Skippy” Carroll’s tweet addressing businesses that don’t support the police

There are hundreds of these instances that go unreported. It’s not just high-profile individuals or people in powerful positions that are exposed due to their bad online behavior.  Staff members of schools and administrators in small businesses have come under the same “cancel culture” reaction as “celebrities.”

That means there is even more pressure on you and your organization to perform due diligence before you commit to hiring someone.

If you aren’t aware of how they act online, how can you be sure they are the right fit for your company?

Organizations, especially those entrusted with the stewardship of young people like churches, Christian schools, and nonprofits, are held to a higher standard. Social media screening can identify and flag problematic behaviors before a person joins your organization.

Screening can be used during the hiring process to flag problematic behaviors and prevent a hiring decision for the wrong candidate.  Once hired, social media monitoring is a tool to periodically monitor current staff and employee’s online behavior.  In addition, once these individuals become employees, social media monitoring can reduce these risks and protect your business’s reputation.

Here are just a few of the social media problematic behaviors that can be identified with screening and monitoring.

Racist or bigoted posts or comments

Racism and bigotry are intolerable offenses, especially for public-facing organizations. Finding employees that uphold the morals of your organization has never been more critical.

Fortunately, social media screening makes it easy to identify potential employees who have expressed such disdain. This type of pre-employment screening process will help your organization make the right hiring decisions and prevent an undesired situation in the future.

Threats of violence or retribution

Various HR reports are showing that the way business’s screen potential hires is changing. Formerly, drug screening was one of the main ways to evaluate a future employee. Recently, organizations are putting more emphasis on verifying references, reviewing credentials, and screening social media.

Social media screening can identify violent behavior. This behavior can threaten your organization’s reputation and cause significant issues if exhibited by clients or staff.

Reference to illegal drugs or rampant alcohol use

A study conducted by CareerBuilder showed that 70% of companies had used candidate based social media screening results in hiring processes. One of the main discrepancies found during the screening was drug and alcohol usage. Social media content portraying drug or alcohol use and illegal activity is a red flag for many hiring managers.

Many organizations, such as churches, Christian schools, and many nonprofits, would suffer significant reputation damage if their staff and employees are online displaying this type of behavior.

Sexist or misogynistic comments or references

Over the past few years, it has become increasingly evident that sexism is prevalent in the workplace. Many organizations have a difficult time preventing this type of behavior, as they are usually unaware that it is happening.

Social media screening is valuable because it can identify this behavior online and help eliminate potential candidates from considerations.  Social media monitoring can provide the same type of risk for existing staff.

Summary

These behaviors are unacceptable and usually result in a damaged reputation for organizations that have public-facing employees.

Establishing a clear Social Media Code of Conduct and performing ongoing social media is the very first step. A clear Code of Conduct defines the rules, expectations, and consequences of specific social media behaviors.

Social media screening will establish a process to identify high-risk hires. Social media monitoring

enforce your business’s Code of Conduct by routinely reviewing online behavior and noting exceptions.

Social Media 23 uses permission-based screening to see non-public content and benchmark reporting to establish norms. It provides a bias-free approach to measure risk and validate candidates.