The PRSA expects its members to adhere to the core values
of the public relations profession. Rightfully so, for advocacy, honesty,
expertise, independence, loyalty and fairness are all things a profession
should hold as fundamental tenants to guide behavior and practice. However
provision in conduct can vary through professionals, especially now that the
average professional works with five
generations in the workplace.
At the PRSA Dallas
Communications Summit today, Alison Freeman
of WPNT & Associates noticed all generations in the session room. The topic
was communication crisis plans in the digital age, and she was quick to point
out that generations communicate differently. While this was a tangential
comment to the conversation at hand- she did tie it back in by advising that in
crisis communication, the younger members in the group had to “put on their big
kid pants,” and get rid of the aging vocabulary to be taken seriously and
present their message calmly and authoritatively in a crisis.
Like, um, so like,
what does that have to do with ethics and junk? Well like, my teach totes
mentioned people, like ask for your Facebook passwords in interviews. That’s so
not cool.
In non-Beiber speak, what Alison’s mention prompted me to
think about was the ethics of employers when asking for Facebook passwords
during background checks. Clearly, Alison was giving well received and much
appreciated advice on the importance of professionalism in the workplace. But
it got me thinking about the Facebook problem seen at an increasing rate that
affects several young professionals. Here is
Facebook’s official policy on password sharing.
What is alarming about the request from employers to review
Facebook profiles has little to do with a need to hide weekend activities and
countless cat photographs and a lot to do with your right to privacy. While the
right to privacy on the public internet (or Internet for all the generations
reading) is still a topic of debate, one thing that is very real is the
protection of employees by the government acts such as the Age Discrimination
in Employment Act, the American Disabilities Act and other litigation from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
How this is a violation of these acts is not a discussion point
I have seen in this debate for privacy on the internet. Most employers, perhaps
engaging in the “shoulder surfing” as online activity has become to be known,
think this is a harmless way of asking to get to know a candidate more in order
to make a more sound decision. An employer certainly wants to make sure their
decision is grounded and the candidate fits in with the culture and is an
upstanding professional worthy of representing the company. This argument
should be countered with the competition that multiple generations in the
workforce has created. In recent years, the trend in the economy has shown that
people stay in the workforce longer and younger generations jump jobs at a
faster turnover rate than older generations. According to this HR
consultant- AARP has made advances in research: older people work harder
and better. There are many myths
that are being propelled even further of younger generations that seem to be
founded by information found on social media profiles.
Without bringing the
underlying issue of ageism in the workplace into account, there is still a
level of legal protection of privacy to which professionals are entitled. From
signing into a personal profile such as Facebook, even by browsing a person’s
friends list, some topics that are unethical and unenforceable by law such as
asking age or marital status become readily apparent. One should be aware of
these rights and also, be prepared if any feelings of coercion in a background
check. The Ladder.com has an excellent article on what to say if you do not
feel comfortable sharing passwords found here.
This blog post is
meant to spark an interest in rights as a job seeker, and a very real issue
with managing generations in the workplace. I try to keep my personal life
separate from my professional life, but anyone that meets me knows that I am an
open book. If you want more access to my Facebook account, you just might see
too many cat jokes and memes to take me seriously.