Should employers be able to look at your social media?

In her monthly Baffling Britain column, Eve Tawfick talks about social media and employers...

I admit it, I post a lot on Facebook. As a member of the UK media I feel it is important to have an online audience and presence.

One would assume that my online persona would consist of important meetings, selfies with celebrities and rants about the government.

Now while some of that may be true, my posts are equally about home cooking, drawing and way too many pictures of my kids.

I'm fairly blasé about online security and have duly noted that my date of birth, photos and height are probably data mined and replicated on some shady dating site right about now.

The amount of adverts I get for used Polly Pocket sets also indicates that my preferences have been cruelly stolen and used for the evil purpose of propping up my unhealthy vintage toy collecting habit.

Social media is a spider web that survives through advertising revenue, viral reels and angry townies who are outraged by dog mess.

Being so cavalier about my data, I wondered then - why did I feel so violated when I discovered an employer had screenshotted my weekend activities and proceeded to interrogate me about them? Or should I say, outright accuse me of lying.

Because, despite sharing a lot of my life on social media, what I don't appreciate is a boss who weaves a narrative about an employee based on photos taken during spare time or annual leave. A boss who took the effort to speak to me just twice since I started at their company. If they were so interested in me - why not just ask?

The idea that a company mole was feeding information about me to a superior behind my back made me feel sick. Did they have pictures of my kids? My unwell father? Were they jotting down the fact that at 5pm on Tuesday I had peach tea and a stir fry in my garden?

Going through an employee's social media isn't professional practice, but I'm sure it happens. After all - you need to make sure your worker bees aren't mainlining heroin on Saturday night, or heaven forbid - Andrew Tate fans.

But I felt like saying: “Hey, if I say I need to take annual leave to rest - and end up at a clown party in a field surrounded by balloon animals holding a magnum - that's kind of none of your business.”

Maybe I was being diplomatic? It wouldn't be professional to tell your boss that you are desperate for 72 hours’ respite from the toxic work environment that is leaving you feeling drained, or the patronising supervisor that uses "mega" as a sincere quantitative adjective in a published work but tells you your writing isn't up to standard.

To be appeasing and conciliatory in the workplace is good practice - not so much on social media. That's why there's a gap betwixt the two. Let's just say if you aren't my friend online - you can look, but you aren't invited to comment.

Knowledge of such practices can make an employee feel stifled, it damages trust between bosses and subordinates. If you want to judge someone's professional capacity - head to LinkedIn, that's what it's for.

While my old employer protected the identity of the Facebook sneak - they had little regard for my own protection. They tried to claim it was someone external, yet my first thought was there's no one who cares enough to do that - it's not like the company was "mega" (to use the phraseology of my beloved supervisor) and my full name isn't used on Facebook. If employers are looking to catch someone out, they have to be prepared to be caught out themselves.

So legally what's the score? Can they look? Yes, they can, but they have to do so in a legal and controlled manner. They must take great care to ensure any information they uncover does not come back to bite them.

For instance, taking and sharing pictures of people's children without their parent's consent is dicey ground.

GDPR also requires that employers only view social media profiles when the information is relevant to the position employees are applying for during the application process. That photograph you're worried about? It isn't necessarily relevant to the job application at hand.

An employment lawyer revealed to me: "So that trip? That drunken photo? Your employer can't use that against you.

"Blogs and freelance work? If you didn't sign a contract or get paid - you aren't breaking any law or breaching a contract.

"It's good practice to keep them in the loop about freelancing and if your employer has done their job they should already be aware of any blogs or material you do in your spare time.

"They are equally culpable when it comes to just asking - and more importantly getting to know their employees beyond emails and meetings."

So the floor is open. Some might say if you don't want it judged don't post it. However, where can we draw the line? Is our work culture so Orwellian we have to censor online activities for fear our bosses are filing them away as ammunition? Or should we be safe in the knowledge that our sacred free time is just that - sacred. No matter how many clown parties we attend.