Privacy and Employer Access to Employee Social Media Account Research Paper

Privacy and Employer Access to Employee Social Media Account - Research Paper Example The access of the employee personal account by the employer is wrong and should not be encouraged because it is a violation of personal right and privacy. Consequently, the challenge of using social media on and off the job has led to the challenge facing employees which led to the demand by some employers for the employees to give their passwords or usernames for their personal account (Poerio and Bain). However, according to Mark Zuckerberg, the approach is not correct because they say it is not the right thing to be done. The intrusion of the employers into the privacy of individuals is a true violation of personal right even though it is a threat to the organization. It is similar to the police checking one’s residence without a search warrant. Regardless of the different prepositions held by employers, privacy is key to the issue of personal safety and issues. One case reported is an employee was a friend of the employer. After a badmouthing by the employee, on one of the social media platform, the employer decided to fire the employee because he read the posts by the employee. Such incidence can become common if employers are allowed to access the personal accounts of the employees. In order to maintain respect between the two in a workplace, respect of privacy must be adhered to strictly. The employer should give guidelines to what constitutes a violation of the company policy and can lead to termination of contracts. In addition, the moral issues associated with the use of social media that may affect organization performance must be communicated to the employee (National Conference of State Legislators). The development of guidelines on what the employee is allowed to share in the social media platform will encourage the development of standards of operation in social media.