Social Media Background Checks—Yes or No?

By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR
Editor, HR Daily Advisor

First of all, what’s the controversy?

Con: Checks Are Dangerous

Experts against doing social media background checks say that they are dangerous, for several reasons:

1. In doing these checks, you’re bound to find out information about applicants that you don’t want, such as race, religion, age, etc. Even though it’s obtained innocently, that information could be used against you if you don’t hire the person. He or she can always say, you didn’t hire me because of my race, or because of my disability, or because of my family responsibilities.
2. In addition, there’s the danger of making a decision based on false information, either due to confusion of names, or purposeful placement of malicious information.
3. Finally, there’s also some risk related to invasion of privacy and misuse of websites, especially if you access information with an assumed name or under false pretenses.

---

You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained, and now there’s a convenient and reasonable way to get it done—BLR’s Leadership Library at the online, 24/7, Employee Training Center. Get More Information.

---

Pro: Part of Due Diligence

However, the other side says, you must do such checks, because that’s how you’ll find out about the “real person.” Advocates of this approach say it’s now part of due diligence to do a social media background check, and if you fail to do it, events down the line could cause you to be accused of negligent hiring. For example, say a person turns violent and injures other employees, and a pre-hire Google search would have uncovered a history of violence.

How Widespread Are the Problems?

We’d like to find out just what people in the field are doing, and what, if any problems they’ve had. Please send me a short email (sbruce@blr.com or use the “Share Your Comments” at the bottom of the page) to let me know:

1. Do you do social media background checks?
2. Have you experienced any difficulties as a result of doing them OR not doing them?

We’ll share the results in a future issue.

---

Despaired of ever getting your managers and supervisors trained? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedule-wise or budget-wise—but now there’s BLR’s Leadership Training for Managers and Supervisors. Train all your people, at their convenience, 24/7, for one standard fee. Get More Information.

---

Best Practice?

So, now to the question of what you should do.

Most experts recommend that if you do such checks, you should at least protect yourself to some degree;

1. First of all, there are firms, like socialintelligence.com, for example, that will perform a check for you, “redact” the information you wouldn’t want, such as race or religion, and deliver to you just the information pertinent to the candidate’s ability to do the job.
2. If you prefer to check in-house, you can achieve nearly the same protection by insuring that someone outside of the direct line of hire, like an HR staffer, does the check. Again, that person would pass on only acceptable pertinent information.
3. You can do checks only for the top candidates, thus reducing somewhat your risk of a lawsuit.
4. You can get a release from the applicant.

And here are a few things NOT to do:

• Don’t gain entrance to a site (like Facebook, for example) under false pretenses.
• Don’t assume that everything you see online is true.

Again, please let me know if you are doing social media background checks, and what, if any, problems you’ve had as a result.

Thanks,

Steve
sbruce@blr.com
Editor, HR Daily Advisor

More Articles on E-pinion

---

For your convenience, here’s a list of the top 5 most popular articles on the HR Daily Advisor website last month.

‘Fire the Slugs’—That’s Good Turnover
“Fire the slugs,” says management expert Jeff Cortes. That’s good turnover and also it’s good for retention—all of your other employees have been wondering when you would act.

No Nonsense Retention: Open Door 80% of the Time
In yesterday’s Advisor, consultant Jeff Cortes said, “Fire the slugs.” Today, more of his timely retention and engagement tips, plus an introduction to the all-in-one HR website, HR.BLR.com.

Flex—’Nice-to-Have’ or Business Imperative?
“Flexibility is a business imperative,” says consultant Diane Burrus. It’s not “nice-to-have,” it’s a results-based business strategy.’ Her practical tips in today’s Advisor.

Lunch and Breaks—’Little’ Violations, But Fines Add Up Quickly
In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered two of the most common wage/hour violations; today, more violations plus an introduction to a surprisingly easy-to-use FLSA Audit Guide.

Discipline and Termination—Near Guarantees of a Lawsuit
In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered “almost smoking gun” mistakes; today, more mistakes your managers make, plus an introduction to a unique, checklist-based audit system.