New polling from the Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals has found that 86 per cent of Canadian companies would consider firing employees based on inappropriate social media posts.
Posting content that damages the company’s reputation is a considerable fireable offence for 63 per cent of Canadian employers, according to the survey. More than half of the companies (58 per cent) would fire an employee for revealing confidential information and 45 per cent of employers said they would fire employees for talking bout illegal drug use online.
The survey also found that 37 per cent of employers would fire an employee for violating the company’s social media policy and 32 per cent of companies said they will not tolerate discussing underage drinking and employee will be fired.
According to the polling, only 14 per cent of Canadian hiring managers said their company would not fire an employee based on their social media posts.
“We live in a world now where our personal brands are not separate from professional brands, and it is important for employers to understand this, ensure team members understand this and to plan around the impacts and interactions. Hiring based on shared values is also critical when considering implications of social media actions,” said Jessica Culo, an Express franchise owner in Edmonton in a news release on Wednesday.
In addition to current employees, the survey suggests that job seekers also need to be careful about what they post on social media, as 65 per cent of companies said they use social media to screen job applicant. Of these companies, 64 per cent see this strategy as effective and as many as 41 per cent of applicants lose the job after social media screen.
When it comes to job seekers, the majority of them (61 per cent) do not agree that their social media posts impact likelihood of being hired. Interestingly, 88 per cent of job seekers agree that once someone is an employee, their employer should be able to fire them based on social media posts.
According to the survey, only 18 per cent of Canadian companies have a formal social media policy for employees.
“Without a social media policy, there is no guidance or a baseline from which to build conversations,” added Culo. “Education, training and regular communication regarding social media use that is open and transparent is a must.”
METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted online between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, 2022 and involved 506 Canadian hiring decision-makers. The data is considered accurate within 4.6 percentage points with a 95 per cent confidence interval.
The online omnibus survey of employees and job seekers was conducted from Dec. 13 to 15 and included 1,050 adults. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, household income and propensity to be online, to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. This survey is considered accurate within 3.8 percentage points using a 95 per cent confidence interval.
Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.
