How not to get fired for posting something on Facebook

August 27, 2012 | Filed under: Career | Posted by: Anwesha Bose

Facebook is all around. The moment you wake up, before you say good morning to your partner, you would rather race to publish Good Morning with a smiley on your FB wall or tweet it. Next, you may even want to tell everyone what you had for breakfast, which shampoo you used today, what you are wearing, and how you caught the last bus to office on time. So far, so good.

Once you become an employee, and slip on your formal shoes, you are supposed to forget the Facebook and Twitter glamour world. Here are some incidents that ought to give a fair warning.

National Suisse fired an employee who had taken leave on grounds of sickness. She had said that being unwell she could not work in front of a computer. But unfortunately, she was found surfing Facebook and posting on the wall. The company fired her on grounds of the incident having ” destroyed its trust in the employee.”
A juror in UK posted on Facebook “I don’t know which way to go, so I’m holding a poll”. This was regarding a case she was handling in court that time. As soon as the authorities found out about this disclosing of sensitive information (she had mentioned full case details and asked her friends to help her take a decision), she was immediately dismissed.
And this one photo which went viral a few months back shows how a woman employee was found to be abusing her boss who promptly handed her the pink slip.

You might argue about freedom of speech and standing for your rights etc, but do not forget that along with rights, all of you share responsibilities.

For example, if you bad mouth your boss or working conditions or your customers; you are acting like a school kid who did not get her favorite toffee. Rather than being rash, you can take better steps. In case you think, your seniors have harassed you, there is always a employee care in every good office. You should rather voice your problems there. And if you are really dying to share such a thing on facebook, you should go about it smartly. Keep in mind not to use bad language. A well worded complaint on social media that focuses on the issue at hand accompanied with a suggested solution is always preferable. Though I am not saying this will save your job, but if the matter is brought to court it will stand in your favor that whatever you wrote is well justified.

Also, as seen in recent cases in USA and UK, the employee argued that their co workers also liked the certain post or commented showing that their stand was correct. The judge concerned in each such case does not consider likes/comments as group agreement.

There have been cases where employees complain about the customers. Now remember the thumb rule, for a company, its customers are infinitely more important than its employees. So if you show disrespect in any form, you will be fired before you can say whodunit!

What to keep in mind so that you don’t get fired for ranting online

Do not make your posts public

Facebook offers good features to keep your posts private. Utilise them well. If you think that something you say might not go down well with your employers, simply make it visible only to select friend groups. Also, please don’t add your boss in your Facebook friends.

Do not post offensive pictures or posts

You might be in love with Hitler or you might chose to hate gays. That is completely your view point. But if your facebook profile says you are part of a company and then you go about voicing your opinions on delicate issues, the company might be held responsible for encouraging such views. So please do not put racist or any sort of derogatory comments or posts that might hurt a particular community.

Company rumors

If you think you can bad mouth your boss or colleagues on social media, think twice. Even if you are not fired, your boss will definitely not treat you well afterwards. Same goes for colleagues. Do not spread water cooler rumors on social media. You might get outcast by your mates.

Your drunken escapades

Recently, a woman in a much respected company posted pics that depicted her with a boy leaning over a passed out man with graffiti all over him. The graffiti had all sorts of obscene words and the lasy herself did not look in her right senses. She was given the pink slip the next day. You get the point?

Searching for a job without telling your boss

If you are job hunting while already working somewhere, try to be a little discreet about it. Most bosses don’t like it.

Your customers are Gods, remember

Like mentioned earlier, customers are not to be made fun of. If you are seriously pissed with your position of dealing with clients, get a better job; do not crib about it on social media.

Think before you click Like

A man in America was fired simply because he liked a page of his boss’ rival. Every article these days is accompanied by like and tweet buttons. Think before you click them; especially if it is related to something that goes against your company or your seniors.

When at work, please work

This one particular point is a pain in every employer’s neck. Most of the companies have at least once thought of banning Facebook, Twitter and such websites on their office internet. But that always leads to nowhere. It is up to you to be responsible enough to understand priorities at work place and better do your job while at it. If caught facebooking when on an important assignment, you might land yourself in trouble.

So guys, be aware of what you do on Social Media.

But now that you are here, you might as well as click share