Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 4, 2016 16 FEATURES SOCIAL MEDIA Hunting for clues online A look at several social media investigations that gleaned results for employers By Evert Akkerman I n this era of instant access to millions, employees and jobseekers increasingly real- ize the privacy screen that used to separate work and life has been lifted. Off-duty behaviour is no longer just an employee's or job seeker's business, even when people think no one is looking or only their friends will see it. As a result, employers are adding a social media check as a stan- dard step in the selection process. is can be quite revealing, often showing an ill-advised move by an employee, such as derogatory comments about a supervisor or being on disability and posting a picture showing them climbing a palm tree in Hawaii. In recent years, there have been many examples of internal theft, fraud cases, bullying or work- place violence threats and other issues that came to light because of unwise, unfortunate or offen- sive postings on social media by employees — prospective, current and former. As part of due diligence, em- ployers can now have a social media investigation conducted. This is basically an electronic dragnet that catches postings by a prospective employee. If it finds photos of a job applicant passed out drunk in a parking lot after a hockey game or inappropriate comments, the employer may want to reconsider this person's candidacy. Companies that do this type of investigation offer a social media footprint search to deter- mine whether an individual is a user of social media. is entails a search of all social media chan- nels, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Flickr, as well as "deep web harvesting" technology that captures aliases with a customizable, multilingual key word search. A second tool is social media surveillance in which activity on social media is monitored for a certain period of time, with real- time alerts on key word hits. It en- tails 24-7 electronic surveillance of all social media and deep web channels, with content (including pictures) harvested and stored. Here are several examples of so- cial media monitoring by Milton, Ont.-based AFIMAC Global: Drug use: A company wanted to investigate complaints of drug use in the workplace. Based on in- ternal findings, the client wanted to focus on six employees and monitor them on social media for a period of time. After 14 days, an alert came in stating the word "high" had been used — one of the employees had bragged on his Facebook page about his workday being better when he was "high." He was work- ing as a forklift driver in a large warehouse. e company was alerted im- mediately, the employee con- fessed and his employment was terminated. Benefits fraud: An employee was collecting WSIB benefits as a result of a workplace injury. Based on restrictions in place, the individual was totally disabled and unable to perform modified or light duties. However, HR had received information suggest- ing the employee might be exag- gerating his claim and requested that the employee's open source social media footprint be moni- tored. is yielded photographs of the individual playing soccer and visiting various locations in New York. When HR met with the employee, he admitted to having been in the United States and that he was not disabled to the extent he had claimed. HR issued a suspension. Theft: A company was con- fronted with the theft of expensive tools from its maintenance shop. Four employees had easy access to these tools and investigators were asked to monitor them on open source social media. Keywords in the search includ- ed terms commonly associated with theft, such as brand names and product numbers specific to the tools that were stolen. After three weeks, an alert came in stat- ing tools would be part of a garage sale by one of the suspects. Evidence was collected through physical surveillance, after which the suspect was interviewed. He admitted to stealing tools on a regular basis and his employment was terminated. Defamatory emails: A multi- national organization was the target of defamatory emails, but the corporation did not want to involve its IT department, in the event there was an internal component. Investigators har- vested open-source information across major social media chan- nels associated with possible subjects, whom the company had identified. Data was harvested and con- veyed to the client. External sub- jects were identified through ad- ditional computer forensics and physical surveillance and sub- sequently ordered to cease and desist. Employees were interviewed using the information gleaned in the reports, resulting in progres- sive discipline and terminations. Workplace violence: A com- pany decided to monitor an em- ployee who demonstrated aggres- sive behaviour and was verbally abusive. HR had developed a per- formance improvement plan (PIP) for the employee and, as a precau- tion, wanted the employee's open source social media footprint monitored. e employee posted statements that were somewhat troubling and suggested the indi- vidual might act out. Data was harvested and stored. When the PIP did not have the desired result, the company de- cided to terminate the individual's employment. Security measures were put in place to mitigate any termination risk. e termination decision was met with a heated verbal outburst from the employee but, fortunate- ly, no physical violence occurred. Social media mining can yield relevant information on current and prospective employees and play an important role in risk management. It helps organiza- tions avoid or address issues, from employee dishonesty to work- place violence. Harvesting information before a job offer is presented can iden- tify untrustworthy individuals who could jeopardize a company's reputation, culture and morale. Infusing social media mining into people searches can be a welcome addition to the due diligence pro- cess, which should be of great interest to recruiters, employers, lawyers and HR professionals. Evert Akkerman is an HR professional based in Newmarket, Ont., and found- er of XNL HR. He can be reached at info@xnlhr.com. Credit: Gil C (Shutterstock) The employee posted statements that were somewhat troubling and suggested the individual might act out.

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