Tracy Moon and John Stapleton drafted "Employee off-duty conduct: Can you enforce workplace policies outside of work?" for Hr.Blr.com.
Employers often adopt and enforce written policies regulating conduct at the workplace. Many employers expect that employees will follow their employment polices at all times, regardless of whether the employee is working at home or at work, Tracy and John wrote.
Today, in the age of social media and smartphones, employers and employees have much greater visibility when they leave work – giving employers the ability (and desire) to monitor their workers after hours, and resulting in greater exposure and potential for harm to an employer's reputation, they explained. But can employers monitor or discipline employees for policy violations that occur when an employee is off-duty and off-premises?
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