In recent times, there is rampant use of social media both at work and at home to post the
startling amount of information online. Increased use of social media has eroded many
distinctions that define workplace ethics, rights, and responsibilities thus leaving the employer
with no option other than curtailing the use of social networks during working hours. According
to Cao (529), the landscape of communication has changed tremendously, and the line between
professional and personal communication is blurred. For this reason, employers have raised
concerned that employees use company time and equipment for socializing with friends.
Legally, employers have expressed authority to fire employees as per the organization's human
resource policies. Therefore, the correct usage of social media can benefit organizations.
However, if not used correctly, companies can plunge into legal and financial problems.
Social media is an essential tool for communication. However, employees should choose
what to post or not on social networks. According to Fusi (400), employers should respect the
privacy of the employees while the employees have a duty of not violating the contractual
agreements of the employer. Be that as it may, if an employee posts highly discriminative
content that is likely to portray the company negatively, then such employees should be fired.
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Therefore, the sacking of employees from social media usage should depend on severity of the
post.
Alluding to Leonardi (49), employees often use company’s time and resources to
socialize with friends. While correct use of social media might result in increased productivity
due to ease of sharing information across the platforms, organizations are losing resources to
addicted employees. Similarly, employees often use a lot of time as well as company computers
and networks in surfing social networks and often lowers the productivity of the employees.
The landscape of communication has changed, and the organization should embrace
technology to remain competitive in the business environment. However, organizations should
devise social media usage policies that aim at creating a safe and non-hostile working
environment. Organizations should discourage the use of social media for negative publicity by
employing disciplinary measures to employees posting discriminative content. Therefore, the
appropriate use of social media can benefit organizations; otherwise, companies can plunge into
legal and financial problems.
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Work Cited
Cao, Xiongfei, et al. "Exploring the influence of social media on employee work performance."
Internet Research 26.2 (2016): 529-545.
Fusi, Federica, and Mary K. Feeney. "Social Media in the Workplace: Information Exchange,
Productivity, or Waste?." The American Review of Public Administration 48.5 (2018):
395-412.
Leonardi, Paul M. "The social media revolution: Sharing and learning in the age of leaky