Most people have heard about Cisco Fatty, the girl who had a job offer rescinded after making a stupid Twitter comment. It made big news and a many jobseekers (and job holders) became more cautious about their tweets after reading about her major guffaw. Yet many people are still not being careful about their Facebook status updates, privacy settings, or photo uploads and tagging.
Facebook firings are becoming more and more common. In fact, if one bothers searching on the web, there are all kinds of ways that people have managed to get themselves fired with the help of reckless facebooking. An employee was fired by her employer, Insurance company Nationale Suisse, after getting caught Facebooking during a sick day in which she claimed she could not look at computer screens and had to rest in the dark. Seven hospital staff members face the possibility of unemployment after posting pics of themselves laying down on the job. Then there is the girl fired for Facebooking that her job was boring, and let’s not forget the Goldman Sachs trader fired because he had a Facebook addiction. Oh, and my personal favourite, this girl:
In a recent Proofpoint Study posted findings that 8% of employers have fired employess over Facebook or similar social media sites. Here is an excerpt from their report:
Friends or foes?: Concerning social networks, US companies are also experiencing more exposure incidents involving sites like Facebook and LinkedIn as compared to 2008 (17 percent versus 12 percent). US companies are taking a much more forceful approach with offending employees — eight percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation as compared to only four percent in 2008.
There are several blog posts and articles on the web offering tips and advice for not getting fired but I think the best advice boils down to common sense and a little discretion. If it goes on the web, people will see it…..especially those lurking employers. If you feel you would like a little more direction, however, here is a slightly awkward yet detailed video on the topic of responsible Facebooking.