Employees 'at ease' with Facebook checks

Almost half of workers are unconcerned about their employer checking their social networking profile, it has been revealed.

A study by Zinc Research and Dufferin Research has discovered that these employees are not anxious about the information they have listed on sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

In fact, two out of five people questioned by the two firms said they would consider showing their profile pages to potential future employers.

Are you involved in recruiting or HR? If yes, you should think about attending the Onrec.com Online Recruitment Conference & Exhibition - Topics and Speakers listed here. Complete this enquiry form and a member of the Onrec.com team will be in touch.

Managing director of Zinc Research Brian Singh has urged more bosses to take hold of the technology and use it to their advantage.

Companies that grasp this reality and develop a Facebook-related attraction and retention strategy will better connect to their workforce and get the upper hand in business, he said.

Many businesses in the UK restrict their employees from using social networking sites in office hours, despite protests from the Trades Union Congress.

Employees are beginning to recognise they need to make a career-long presentation of themselves, says ClickAJob chief executive Yngve Traberg.

And to do that competitively, a conventional CV can possibly be a bit one- dimensional against a more dynamic and person-friendly appeal on sites like Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Remember too, he continues, it's not only employees who need to look competitive. It's companies too.

On a social-networking site, it's possible to get a fix not just on the expertise a company is up against, but the actual teams themselves - the people, their backgrounds and the skills they can deploy.

As Mr Traberg sees it, the message is clear - companies themselves can benefit from having their employees on Facebook.

It's not a question of being at ease with such advances, he says.

Like it or not, Facebook and the others are already part of life as much as computers and mobile phones - which means frankly, neither employees nor employers can afford to ignore them.