Social media has been known to claim the jobs of many employees. Usually this comes as a result of a controversy the employee has found themselves in online such as the infamous case of Justine Sacco.
The same has happened locally with the most recent example being Adam Catzavelos who was fired from his family business following a racist remark published online.
It comes as no surprise then that locally, employees aren’t rushing to share details of their online lives with their boss.
Data from Kaspersky Lab’s Global Privacy Report reveals that 64 percent of South Africans hide social media activity from their boss.
It’s not just management however with 60 percent of locals saying they’d prefer not to reveal online activities to co-workers.
“As going online is an integral part of our life nowadays, lines continue to blur between our digital existence at work and at home. And that’s neither good nor bad. That’s how we live in the digital age. Just keep remembering that as an employee you need to be increasingly cautious of what exactly you post on social media feeds or what websites you prefer using at work. One misconceived action on the internet could have an irrevocable long-term impact on even the most ambitious worker’s ability to climb the career ladder of their choice in the future,” says Marina Titova, head of consumer product marketing at Kaspersky Lab said in a press release.
Something to remember however is that if you’re using a computer within your company, it’s extremely likely that system administrators are able to see what websites you visit.
For that reason it’s important to police yourself on social media just in case your boss stumbles across your edgy Twitter profile one day.
Follow the rule of not posting anything that could be interpreted as defamatory, obscene or libellous. If you aren’t sure whether you’re breaking that rule, don’t post it. Remember how we mentioned Sacco at the top of this piece? She was fired in 2014 and her case is still spoken about as a prime example of what not to do online.
It also goes without saying but don’t harass, threaten, discriminate or disparage against any colleague, partner, competitor or customer.
Some companies may even have a code of conduct that details how you should behave online, it might be worth asking your boss about whether your company has this in place.
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
