Recruitment’s flirtation with social media has undoubtedly been huge thus far and looks set to grow, however it has also raised questions and issues with those already in employment.
That was evident recently when a worker at Apple’s Norwich store was relieved of his duties following comments he made on his Facebook page about the company and its iPhone product.
Samuel Crisp was fired after he criticised the product for a faulty time zone application as well as railing against Apple after he was denied a transfer overseas. Despite Mr Crisp’s claim of unfair dismissal a tribunal ruled in favour of Apple.
The tribunal said: “We take into account their position that the Facebook posts were not truly private and could in fact have been forwarded very easily with the claimant having no control over this process.”
Earlier this year, a survey found almost half of British businesses have formally banned access to social networks at work because of a fear of disparaging comments.