Part One

This week we are covering materials in Chapter 9, pages 326–360, regarding workplace environment. Privacy is an important part of our daily lives. For example, as a student you should be aware of the Family Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which is a federal law protecting school records. Another well known federal privacy act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), protects your health information. It is obvious that a large number of individuals take for granted that their personal information will be safe and secure when doing business with small or large companies. However, over the past five years, security breaches have become a common occurrence.

There are rules and regulations that keep employee records, such as social security numbers, work evaluations and other pertinent information secure. All of these rules and regulations tend to benefit the employee or individual, but what about the company?

Let’s think for a moment about that. Should a company, regardless of size, be able to impose on its employees or customers policies regarding company privacy? Should a company have the right to regulate its employees’ activities on their off-the-clock time? Can an employee be held accountable for misrepresenting their employer on their personal social media accounts?

Your discussion post for this week is to provide your own opinion on the following questions.

• In today’s technologically advanced society, is there really privacy? Based on your own personal experiences with social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram, or Snapchat), do you feel that individuals should be held accountable for their actions outside of the workplace?
• Is it possible that, due to the technological advances in smart phones, tablets, and other communication devices, workplace and personal privacy have meshed together to a point that what was once personal space is now fair game in the hiring and firing practices?

Part Two:

Classmate’s post (Latoria Davis-Wilson)

Good morning Everyone,

I do feel that there is not any privacy when a person is socializing and communicating on any social media platform. Any personal information that you share and put into the system will some how get leaked into the wrong hands if you dont have any kind of strong virus or spam protection for it not to be leaked out. And I feel that the way an individual act and carry themselves on social media is responsible for who see them and what happen if a job doesn’t want to hire them. Because several jobs does go onto a person social media page to see how a person act and carry themselves and they feel if they act a certain way to the public their actions will affect the outcome of their business. Their are always steps to take to separate your professional life from your personal life. What you do at home or during your personal time shouldn’t be performed when you’re at work or in a professional setting. You can separate your personal life from your professional life by using a separate account and device for work and your personal use. Limit the information you share. For example if you partied one weekend and want to share with your friends. Call them on their personal device and share it with them instead of posting it all on social media. If you’re wearing outfits that’s not appropriate for social media share them with your friend on their personal device not on social media.