Got this email from my manager today... a bit of a downer to my three day weekend!

I actually don't talk about work (in an indentifiable way), and I think most of the other points in their guide are utter BS (and unenforceable).

I am pretty open (about myself) on social media though, so feel sorry for HR if they've been combing through it! 🤣

"Never use curse words..."

"Avoid sharing emotionally, religiously..."

"Do not post pictures of yourself showing your abs, cleavage..."

The fuck? I can understand some of the other things, but seriously, they don't control your life.

You have a right to your own god damn speech. Fuck this bullshit. Place seems like a shit show.

Well most of that is reasonable when job-related. And also on devRant, people obviously don't post relevant details.

However, for a private profile, the HR cunts have fucking nothing to say because they don't pay you for behaving like they want.

@djsumdog *shows more clevage*. I think if you have on your profile "Developer at [co.]" I can understand some of these points (which I don't!), but it would still be controlling.

@Fast-Nop I don't have social media for work, so it's my personal profile which doesn't mention work by name. I agree with you. If they want to control what I say outside of work they're gonna need to pay me a lot more!

Let them fire you if they care so much.

On the other hand, I wouldn't hire you.

Not because I care much about your personal life. But because I need to maintain an image of the company.

I know my competitors and my clients. My clients like to do these independent social media ventures, snooping around about who is my team and try to find excuses to move to our competitors. Our competitors use it as offensive marketing (its an actual term).

@bioDan what would your reaction be for a job candidate whom you try to look up on FB, Twitter and shit and find no "social media" presence at all?

@bioDan I don't think they would, my manager doesn't really care but HR do. They could try, and I'd let them and then try for unfair dismissal.

Wouldn't a better approach be to have professional social media profiles for staff that they can setup/maintain?

Also good points - what if there is no profile, or they're private profiles?

Saying you won't hire someone because of it is easy, but if it turns into an issue during the course of employment?

@Fast-Nop love it

@nate i understand why you feel this way. In most cases I think you are right.

But my field deals with big corporations and clients that pay big money. It can take anywhere between 4-6 months to close a single deal and salaries and business expenses are constantly fluid. That's why I need to manage my risks accordingly and unless you are truly exceptional in what you do, I'd rather go with the other guy with the more standard/default social media profiles.

Investors who invest their money in the business usually do a swift check to see where does their money end up but from my experience they don't really care either as long as you are doing your job. However I bet there are different types of investors out there as well.

Unenforceable in what way? If they want to fire you with cause, all they have to do is say that having a negative social media presence was affecting your relationship with clients or potential clients (assuming that you do client-facing work). One more reason not to do social media under your real name.

@nate about your question, it shouldn't really be an issue.

It's a matter of matching your expectations and negotiate to a win-win position. If we can do that, great, otherwise I wish you great luck and I will pay you your due in full (+ bonuses if you deserved them from the business standpoint).

@HollowKitty Not in the UK they couldn't, fortunately! You have to be willing to put up the fight though. (Edit: unless of course there was a specific provision in your contract, but even then..)

@nate Are you sure? https://dacbeachcroft.com/es/gb/...

@HollowKitty In my case yes, the relevant part in the case is: "the tribunal should have addressed the fact that Mr Laws was following 100 of Game's stores, and was followed back by 65". I personally disagree that being followed by an employer is sufficient, but in my case I neither follow not am I knowingly followed by my employer. I guess a blurry boundary is being followed by/following employees, but none of them are business social media accounts and they too do not associate with the workplace.

GDPR also adds a nice twist, as the company does not have my consent to use data I post on social media for any purpose. I admit it may be different if a client had approached them with a concern, and that would be dependent on how the client found my profile (I would hope).

What I do outside of my work hours is none of anyone else's business.

What I do unrelated to work is likewise none of my employers business, regardless of the time.

So long as I get my work done, do it well, and interact well with my coworkers, literally nothing else matters. I could be a succubus draining the chi out of random passerbys, or secretly a superintelligent shade of the color pink, and it should not matter.

Fuck anyone who believes they have a "moral right" to others' private lives. Fuck them with a cactus.

@Root 👏 I do get that there could be extenuating circumstances which, if everyone agrees with, is probably OK. If I'm clearly dragging my employer by name, I think that's a grey area (I wouldn't do it) but anything else they have absolutely no control over 👏

@nate Yes. Saying "man this company I work at totally SUCKS and should go BANKRUPT and fuck those bitches" should probably get you fired. But like. That concerns them directly. My political affiliations or interest in tuba-tossing is none of their busibodyness.

@lunorian I don't think they will as my manager is cool. If it does really cause issues then yeah totally 👍 leave first and fight after. Who wants to stay if they're not wanted?!

@Root Yaaas! 👏

@lunorian I hadn't actually thought of that, but I'm 95% certain it's me. My social media is pretty NSFW. I am actually tempted to go to HR with the question though on that basis, asking for specifics!

Boss & HR:
> Do not use curse words
> Do not whine about work

devRant:
> @Cursee as much as possible
> Boss can choke on the fleshy snek

OH SHIT 😰 sorry boss!! What am I gonna do?!

@Condor make the boss deepthroat you to keep them honing those sucking skills.

@Root luckily I don't have a boss right now, but if I do get one I'll definitely keep it in mind.. after all bosses should be able to suck in more than just the bad way 😏

@Root I mean... 🙄 😙

@Condor I'm totally here for this

Change your nick dud. They're onto you.

@bioDan What if someone doesn't have social media?

@linuxxx @Fast-Nop asked me the same question above 😂

I said i love it.

Did they find your devRant account? :)

I usually try to be nice to people but situations like this boils my blood and I’m not sure if I could hold myself not to write a lengthy mail with lots of fuck offs in it

@rutee07 that Monty Python song could be altered a bit: "sit on my facebook, and tell me that you hate me".

@Frederick I should say that I really like the company (namely my colleagues, the work we do, location and pay). I'm laughing this off, but if HR are going to cause problems then that might cause me to leave.

@Condor just recovered from last night hangover and this is the first notifications I clicked and got very confused 🤣🤣🤣

@c3ypt1c @balaianu I'm pretty sure it's not, my profile here is pretty tame and not *too* ranty about work as I generally think it's fine.

@cursee you're welcome 🙃 out of curiosity, what did you drink?

@neriald I'm just going to ignore it! I might print it out and frame it and put it near my desk haha.

@Condor few brands of beer and then rum :3

My take on it is this: a company having control over your personal life is not normal and companies do not have a right to do that. Such an arrangement would have to be agreed upon as part of the terms of employment. If it wasn’t part of your employment contract then I would say they have no right to make any demands as to what you do on your own personal social media accounts.

@nate that is definitely the correct approach to this situation =)

@nate how did it turn out after all?

@Fast-Nop Thanks for asking :) It is a little out of control on my part, as now all of my friends encourage me to post on social media saying "Hannah from HR will love that!"... but still, it's none of their business and I don't associate myself with the company online -at all-.

All that has really happened is HR complained to my manager, and my manager was compelled to bring it up. Since then I've just solidified an enemy in Hannah from HR, which I admit is stupid but... it's none of their business and I really don't care!

Oh... they were going to try and discipline me for framing the email and putting it on my desk. "It's not appropriate to share private communication in public." "It wasn't marked as confidential as per company policy?" "... don't do it again!"