Just a reminder to watch what you say!

JulieCVICURN, BSN, RN · Jul 4, 2011

How the heck would bosses, or any NUM for that matter, have TIME to search the internet, looking for disgruntled staff members?
They must hire people to do this I reckon.

Based on what I've read here and my own experiences (or those of friends) it seems that it's not necessarily the employer looking for it. It's coworkers causing trouble for you. In the cases I've been involved in or seen, it has always been because a coworker went to management. The manager, despite stating that she thought it was ridiculous, was forced to act on it because the employee reporting the posting didn't just go to her, she went to people higher up than the unit manager.

In my experience, it has never been a random employer check that has uncovered these horrendous (ha!) trangressions - it has been nosy busybodies being snitches to try to make themselves look better to management. Be very, very careful who you friend on social networking sites!

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2011

Even on here I feel weird posting but take the risk and don't care. When I complain, the complaints are real and legit. Big brother is watching you everywhere, even at home.(insert horror movie music)...... creepy but I guess eventually we will all be used to it.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2011

Don't have a facebook. Can you really trust these friends and family members? I have seen other people's( who are not friends of mine) facebooks when a mutual friend was looking at their site. What is to stop me from "causing trouble" if i saw one of these posts about job complaints? Can you trust your friends to never visit his/her account in public or in front of non trustworthy people?

JulieCVICURN, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2011

Don't have a facebook.

That's the obvious answer.

I do think that it's entirely possible to have a social networking site such as FB and not post things that are potentially damaging to your employment status. I also suspect that if someone got a wild hair and decided to respond to a termination based on something like "I had a bad night" they might have a decent case for winning. I'm not a lawyer, though.

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Jul 5, 2011

Based on what I've read here and my own experiences (or those of friends) it seems that it's not necessarily the employer looking for it. It's coworkers causing trouble for you. In the cases I've been involved in or seen, it has always been because a coworker went to management. The manager, despite stating that she thought it was ridiculous, was forced to act on it because the employee reporting the posting didn't just go to her, she went to people higher up than the unit manager.
In my experience, it has never been a random employer check that has uncovered these horrendous (ha!) trangressions - it has been nosy busybodies being snitches to try to make themselves look better to management. Be very, very careful who you friend on social networking sites!

Agree

Also good idea not to 'friend' coworkers.

ChristaRN · Jul 5, 2011

:uhoh3:I hope your boss never went home and said they had a bad day. Ridiculous!

I have a page on a social network site. Mentioned that I had a bad night, for three nights. Recently, I got called into my boss's office. There were COPIES of my page sitting on the desk. I was told to watch what I say, because by saying I had a bad night, it was bad for the company image. Then I was told that my page would be monitered closely for the next few months:mad: I went home and immediately upped my privacy settings to and took down my place of employment. I felt completely violated.
Just want to gently remind everyone, be very careful what you put up on websites. I don't drink, smoke or get high. I never post any inappropriate pictures. If I can get called out for posting that I had a bad night, it can happen to anyone. Oh, the world we live in....

AgentBeast, MSN, RN · Jul 6, 2011

Well I'm good as far as the facebookings and tweeterings go as I don't have either of those. I do have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth when I'm talking to people and not actively thinking about what I'm saying so I struggle there.

steelydanfan · Jul 6, 2011

As a general rule of thumb in a world where all of our informtion is readily available on the internet, I never put any information about my place of employment up or even go into to much informtion about my life. This is simply because I once worked for an employer that actually one employee whose sole purpose was to search social networking sites to see what information it's employees were putting up. I knew of several people that were fired because of compaints against customers, bosses, or some other company policy. I also know that they especially monitored people that were out for things like FMLA, worker's comp, or things of that nature to see if you were doing anything that might contradict what you were out for. Such as if you went the gym but had a bad back. Becareful with what you post because you never see who is watching. I personally would not post anything not even as simple as a bad day at work on my page. NOTHING!

I assume that the PTB's at work have technicians who do NOTHING but monitor staff for websurfing, email and other activities at work like every other mainstream corporaton does. I also assume that if I log into the hospitals computer from home, then my email addy has been "caught" and I am at risk of being followed all over the web. This is how it's done people, and you all need to wake up.

AZO49008 · Jul 6, 2011

How many stories do we need to hear about people being scrutinized for what they say about their employers/workplace on FB or other social networking before people realize it's not the brightest thing to do. It's a basic act of self preservation. Yeah, it's a free world, yada yada yada. I think it's ridiculous, too. But that's the way it is.

The only type of comments I tend to make about work are in praise of my awesome coworkers. A typical post might read something like "Wow, CRAZY night last night @ work. I would have been sunk if it weren't for my awesome PCAs".

We can't demand to have a reality-tv based society, bring a little bit of it into your own life by posting whatever comes to mind for more or less public consumption, and then whine because it's being scrutinized and brought to your attention by people who don't appreciate it.

jacobstein · Jul 6, 2011

I have an impression that with the recession going on and the job market so poor, employers are taking advantage and becoming very nasty. We are now serfs. If we have a job at all.

Wishinonastar, BSN · Jul 6, 2011

Thats why I dont say I am sick when I call in. I just state that I need to call in. It's really none of their business why I am calling in. If I have sick days, personal days, etc.. then it's my right to use it, as long as I am not abusing it. If I need a freaken personal day then so be it. Not that I tend to call in unless I really am sick or my kids are sick but still. Employers have no right to ask you why you are calling in, if you lie to them then thats your bad. Of course I am speaking in the general you.

Actually that depends on the facility and their policies. It is an expectation that sick time is used for sickness or something related such as an appointment. Personal days are for other things. If you have PTO they really don't need to know, but if it is spelled out as sick days then they have a reasonable expectation that you need them for illness. Some employers track illness for infection control purposes and want a REASON. Follow your company policy and you won't have any surprises.

jacobstein · Jul 6, 2011

My wife is Russian and over there, under Communism, you don't tell anyone anything personal except for immediate family members. I guess America is moving that way.