Overview

Widespread use of the internet and social networking sites have made the ‘personal’ potentially ‘public’ and this blurring of the boundaries can present HR professionals with some tricky situations. In this briefing note we look at what employers can and can’t do when an employee’s personal lifestyle choices are made public.

Recognising that there is a need to strike a sensible balance between professional and private life, most employers allow reasonable personal use of the internet at work during breaks and outside normal office hours. Additionally, most employers
will also have in place a clearly defined internet policy that sets out the acceptable parameters for internet and email use during working hours.
What, however, are the implications when through the internet (or other media), and sometimes completely by accident, an employer is made aware of certain aspects of an employee’s or candidate’s private life of which, in the normal course of events,
they would be completely unaware?

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