Of course people vent in letters to AAM and many of them will behave professionally at all times at work (or as much as is humanly possible), but those were fairly harsh and judgemental sentiments even for a vent, and genuine concerns, such as your manager not meeting with you even when you try to schedule meetings (! But they all seem to be doing cool stuff so I get a little reflected glory (an architect, a model, a surgeon). Thats actually a rather startling observation, now that I think about it! I mean if I were in the arts, Id probably google people. Nosy people are the worst. Hey, i saw someone walk into a gay bar three towns over and snapped a photo of them and thats public right? They cannot help their own (in the US) agism. In this case, our OP didnt put it out there. Its naive to think no one will find it. So treating the study-abroad employees is tricky. Probability goes up if youre in some minority categories particularly WoC and QPOC. Ive been the target of bad googling. But it also sounds like the training courses are the least of the issues here! They have hot chocolate and food. What that LWs coworker did (gee, it would be a shame if the whole office found out you got arrested) was worse. and an ex-husband who made it his mission to impersonate me online. A few years after I graduated, they built a website and mined old hard drives to upload all articles from the previous decade to it. It is a ridiculous policy. You can say to her, Can I ask that you not share my salary with reference-checkers in the future? But if a coworker did that and you came across it ten years later, it is pretty basic common sense to realise that while you certainly *could* read through all their posts and learn a lot of personal information that they chose to put online, they probably would be embarrassed and a little weirded out if you actually did it and definitely would be if you brought it up at work. She likely thought she was helping, but she really overstepped. I have an extremely common name. Im guessing the LW was probably thinking about this level of research, but was wondering how close it is to being inappropriate. Not a stalking a resume to avoid talking to someone situation. But no one calculates an odd pen here and there. But is it still creepy to steer your shopping cart to the spot behind the paper towel display where you can eavesdrop on their conversation without them seeing that youre there? If someone is looking for just superficial stuff with I think curious is a better word. Youd think. I think that first example might even get you asked to leave a restaurant depending on the context. People are going to google each other. If its public, you are publicly broadcasting it to where billions of people can potentially see it. I used to live in Idaho, at the end of a dead-end dirt road. And I see how arty people do it too to share work, or if you were a hiring manager and wanted to check that your applicants werent racists or something. I disagree. Im a vendor and we have to record how much we spend on customers in our system. Maybe its not the right or nice thing to do, but, well, the internet is there, human curiosity knows no bounds, and rabbit-holing is a thing. is it unprofessional to have hickeys at work? What is the intent of the Code of Conduct? While the company has a strong record for these bonuses, I dont believe my base pay should be less than what I would earn elsewhere. I had to calm her down, show her the thread, teach her how the whole dumb thing works, and show how it was a response. Its one thing for law enforcement to take that deep dive because its their job its another kettle of fish entirely for a random coworker to take that deep dive because theyre nosy. With the blog post in play I can see it, butif the team has someone who never feels safe around men of certain races, you are going to invite problems and that person *honestly gets a threatening vibe* from them *because of the internalized bias*they could be honest, well-meaning, and still a racism problem for your team. I dont necessarily expect them to understand every step I take in order to process these documents, not what every error message that means Im having trouble processing a document their role in understanding is to recognise what kind of problem (internal technical vs supplier information error) and how to solve it (call the specific IT department or contact the supplier), as well as knowing what steps *I* should have/ will have already taken to solve. Basic Google search did bring that up. I can both Google someone *and* talk to them! @falling I 100% agree with you that anything you search or any online activity is not private and being tracked. I googled a coworker once, years ago, because of something theyd said theyd done professionally, which interested me, and I wanted to check it out. my lying coworker claimed someone said I couldnt eat at my desk, telling recruiters I wont move to states that discriminate, AirTag etiquette, and more. Thats not prejudging, thats just accurately judging. This is a really good way to re-frame not being allowed to take swag. A lot of it is more like, your car in your driveway is visible from the street, and therefore technically public knowledge. HIPAA is an acronym for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Frankly if I knew you were googling my resume instead of just asking me I would probably think you had people skills issues at the least and had some mental issue at the worst. To HR (because theyre driving this ridiculous policy). None of my remote-only people are in town one is in the same state, but the others are 3-10 time zones away. It almost seems to me like walking out in public in a cow costume and then expecting people not to stare at you. I am plenty curious, Ill find out about the coworker by talking to them and interacting with them. Think of it in a more generic sense, like youre getting to know them, not that youre interviewing them for a job. I would never share that kind of personal information with coworkers, but its archived on easily accessible news sites that I have no control over and I know it colors others perceptions of me. I mean, I liked that time I got a free meal from my employer when I was remote, but even then, the entire team was remote. For example, during my Freshers week at university I gave my name and e-mail address (i.e. Its natural to be curious about new people. can we talk about GOOD companies for a change? It even applies to the IT support division I work in, even though we almost entirely support internal teams. Too much stuff! I think that it would be difficult to assume others preferences based on your own, because peoples boundaries on this are so different. There are professional reasons to be a bit curious. Its not driving by their house. If youre looking someone up for a legitimate reason (e.g. Those who have flagged for us no gifts are usually working on gov contract work. 5 Jun. Public info or not, people should feel comfortable knowing that theyre not being looked at like an animal at the zoo, even if its open info. apple watch series 5 speaker replacement. Just a comment inspired by #4: speaking as someone on a decluttering mission right now, beware of swag unless you really really know youll use it. But if you tell your coworkers I googled you in case youre a sex offender. Especially if you find something embarassing or unflattering about the person. manager to the hiring manager during reference checking. Ive written articles for limited distribution journals that are now on the internet. cps drug testing law kentucky ratios of directed line segments formula And as you said, within the hierarchy it might not be appropriate to ask but the knowlege might be good. Im not interested in their personal lives or private opinions anyway. I can honestly say Ive never thought about googling a coworker. You are LITERALLY cultivating an online collection of data about yourself! I work in higher ed, and have a staff of 25-30 part-time employees. Those are typically compiled only from publicly available records the ones that go beyond public records typically requite you to have obtained consent and a social security number from the person youre looking up. Sometimes theyll ask you to provide a W2, but thats not to check how much you made; its because the company didnt respond to the employment verification request. There are several people with the same name in our area and hes gotten numerous calls from parents wanting to know how to sign their child up for the baseball team or does he work on vehicles on the weekend, etc. You are sending press releases about yourself to an audience of billions. I thought those would be unavailable to anyone that didnt have access to physical archives when I wrote it would never see it since a website was far in our future, but now its all out there and I have no control over it. If you are doing something surreptitiously, like a small child eating a tootsie roll behind the door, its generally because you know you actually shouldnt be doing the thing. Agreed. Technically the items in there still belong to the store and are not your private property yet, yeah, but itd be really weird. It was a horrible setup for so many reasons and my de facto supervisor was a misogynist with control issues. I have a coworker who makes a point of saying how she has googled all of us in our unit to find out our ages, and makes comments on things she has found on peoples social media, so she must be googling us regularly. Was there any way to save it, or did you just have to get out? I am in the midst of a job search after our company went through mass layoffs several months ago. I wouldnt take it as far as doing a background check on my kids friends parents, particularly if youre talking about paid ones, but I certainly want to know basic information about the person Im trusting my childs or my own safety to. In my state, marriage records, divorce records, and property ownership (including purchase price!) A lot of social media is about getting more followers and having people see what you put on there. (I cant get a beloved pizza place 2 miles from my house to deliver to me because their delivery area ends at the end of my block and they wont even meet me at the corner.). Motivation and depth of research make a big difference, though. Curious does not mean creepy. Are you LGBTQ, Roscoe? Many times the individual did NOT post it online though. At least two of my past addresses show up when I google myself and Ive never explicitly put them online because that would be risky. We are in the midst of hiring someone who was supposed to start this week. Heck yes it is. (which doesnt sound like the case). Wrong answer. I dont like it, but I also dont get to control that. Id need a pretty good reason to pay money for a search that brings up stuff that is hard to search online. If you find your company accountant had previously been tried for fraud at his last two companies, then oh yeah, thats worthwhile information. The brain does a whole ton of shortcuts, and then backfills logical rational reasons that was the objective, rational thing to do if you look at the question logically. I have a common name. I mean, anyone could make a blog post and say whatever, but the accusations were pretty shocking and I cant imagine being comfortable moving forward with a candidate after that. Adapt as appropriate to your industry. Or anything that comes up in a google search under their name? Using Google is not wrong. The how much should I search question is why Im grateful to have a common name (and why we didnt give our children unique names). Our govies wont even eat the free popcorn in our office. They left the company and emailed our team their private Facebook name for post-work connections But on social media where you explicitly post things for public consumption you should not be surprised someone looked at your posts. I work remotely too, and Im with you. Im particularly thinking of I noticed so-and-so has been looking at my Instagram page when Im almost certain so-and-so thought they were doing this invisibly. I always felt like free stuff at work was part of the trade-off for a commute, loud chewing neighbors, dressing up, and working in a cubicle farm. Another problem is when your manager has no clue what real success looks like in the role. I have no idea what their value would be considered maybe 50 cents? Snooping: sometimes its a grey area (except paid background checks, thats not ok). Trying to fix it has been absolutely more hassle than its worth. Couldnt those people just walk over to where ever the food is and grab some. These are small items that almost certainly fall beneath any you cant accept/must report gifts of over $X rules your company has (although you can check that to be sure). So, yeah. You actually had to know UNIX to get to things. BUT, I dont think people necessarily have a right to be upset if others find things about you that you posted online, because its never 100% private. I agree that telling you about their findings is a major part of the obnoxiousness around this kind of thing. Instead I googled more in-depth and found it was a women twenty years our senior who had done these things. Like, in the interview for my current job the whole panel brought up several times that the company was the brainchild of the CEO, he was super involved in the day-to-day of the business, he had won a million awards for his work, I would probably interact with him a lot more than would be usual in another company, etc etc etc. I love AAMs script for this. Or maybe Ill go to a tradeshow, collect all the swag I can get my hands on, and submit individual disclosures on each item. Every few months I do search myself to see what, if anything, I need to change. But if people are concerned about that kind of privacy violations we should push for similar right to be forgotten like in the EU to be passed here in the US. I dont think this is a strange complaint at all, because Ive reported to managers who have no idea what I do or what Im even supposed to be doing. When I hire people I want them to get as much as they can and often have to push back internally. I assume people do it to me but if I ever did it to a coworker it would make me feel dirty. But the restructure itself may well have been an attempt to respond to her concerns. Yeah, I don't Google but I look up bosses, colleagues, and prospective employers on LinkedIn regularly. Please no. #1 My stance is, if youve published it on the internet, its fair game. But for me, a line gets crossed when you start seeking out information that was not intended for the wider public, but for a more limited segment of the public. Crossing over into peoples 15 year old MySpace profile that hasnt been updated in forever to figure out what they were like in college is creepy. colleagues should never snoop or look up information cvs. I agree. Certain vendors of CVS Health are also required to be trained on the code of conduct. I think the expectation of privacy was different on the early Internet. If youre curious about their professional background, fine and even potentially relevant. I will stand on this hill with you. Not to make assumptions but the tone of a few of the things in LW3 raised an eyebrow and if thats how they are presenting themselves around the office I could see why things arent going well. For those who truly are not on campus, I like the idea of bringing them something when they meet. I dont share your experiences but there are party pictures with me that I didnt know was posted until much later. Cyber-snooping of coworkers should be taken seriously by management as the behavior could open the company up to liability by the victim. So, if someone puts an early job on their LinkedIn, I think it would be a little weird but OK if a new colleague said, Oh, I was looking at your LinkedIn, and you worked at Company X years ago. Im with you on this one. It costs money and time, and I dont have either. I may have accidentally stumbled on my now-husbands old live journal when we were in college lol. Look, if Im talking to young people or folks who are still finding their way with social media or the like (and there are a LOT of them, and not all old), Id be very, very clear about the need to lock down your data, be careful about what you post, etc. So you kind of know them, where you dont know the people at the competitor companies. People are able to hire private investigators to tail people all the time and find out all kinds of information about them, it is all legal you do not have to consent to being followed, this is the similar to paying for a background check. Thats super petty, but also kind of hilarious. Didnt pass the background check. I agree with Alison that if Im reading someones LiveJournal from 1998 thats too far, but a google search? . Signing forms at the front desk was always stocked with pens from reps years ago. Then the editor (20 years later) decided to put it all out on the internet. In the internet age, real privacy where no one can find out personally things about you even if they really, really try is an illusion unless youre willing to sacrifice participation in a lot of society, and even then maybe not. That makes sense to do. If you dont understand what youre agreeing to, hire a lawyer to explain it to you. I havent Googled any of my immediate coworkers, but I do follow them all on Twitter (which is about 50/50 personal/work), and I assume that everyone I might work with has done a fair amount of research to find out what kinds of teapots *I* like. If a colleague saw something a bit personal, however old, Id appreciate the heads-up because I could lock it down, away from students eyes. If you search for my name, youll get a lot of noise. Same here. Just FYI: those are not searchable profiles that come up in normal google/fb searches. Honestly? I am pretty careful about what I put on line and frequently check privacy permissions on social media, but there is no way for me to mitigate the background type sites. Similarly, if youre starting a business and file for a sole proprietorship, LLC or other type of corporation, you have to post your name and the name of the business in the local newspaper. There is no boundary being violated when someone uses a publicly accessible search engine to find publicly broadcast information. A google search isnt creepy. Just like the LW I used to say she doesnt understand what I do. Youre right that ultimately it was on me to give her the information, but it was like talking to a brick wall. 2. You typically dont even have to go past the first page of results. It would have made a financial difference to me when I was younger and a free lunch was a big deal. We should push, like people in Europe have, to change that. If you google Jellybean Uniqueforeignname, youll see someone with an identical name who was part of a public police investigation. Many people of all age groups think theyre a *lot* better at social media than they actually are. And yes, we both worked in software for the same aerospace company (different states). It was a bill that was enacted by the 104th U.S Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, as a federal law to protect sensitive . I tried deflecting, but it hasnt worked. Better yet, come back and say it was so good everyone should go. Agreed. I had a housemate who was a complete freak. Obviously, Im not giving them the turkey sandwich I ate, but should the notepads and pens stay at my desk for use at work, or is it okay if that pen makes it way into my purse at the end of the presentation? However, one mainstay of most campus jobs here is the occasional departmental pizza party. And then theres my mother who, many years ago when Google Image Search became a thing, decided that the very best thing to try it out with was the full name of my then-boyfriend. It was not out of line there to be casually sticking their names into FB to see what came up.) Im having a house built, and when I went down last week to check on the progress, my sales person was ushering some guy and his (huge!) Hear what they say, listen for their tone of voice, and watch their body language and gestures. If someone finds something youve posted on the internet, you dont get to choose how they react to it but its as odd to me to google a current or future coworker as it would be to drive by their house to see how well they take care of their lawn. Anybody who thought they were in a private corner of cyberia was being nave. Im in a job with some pretty hefty commute times, so a lot of us dont live in the city where the job is. I Googled myself yesterday and here are a few things Ive found that I never posted: 5K race times from the past few years, opinion articles I wrote for my college newspaper (this was the early 2000s and the paper didnt have a strong online presence), a pic that someone uploaded to my colleges digital depository that Im not in, but someone thought I was in, a few of my cross country times from high school, results of softball games from the mid-90s, etc. Now with the advent of the internet, it is included in how information is disseminated publicly. If you do a quick search of someones name and check out their LinkedIn profile, theres nothing wrong with reading it. What youre saying is the equivalent of saying theyre in the phone book, of course I looked up where they live 20 years ago, or if you didnt want me to look through your phone, you should put a stronger passcode on it or of course I went through my wallet, its your fault for leaving it on your desk. In the new digital age there is new fear of someone trying to purposely smear your reputation, by creating a fake online profile of someone and posting all kinds of questionable and inappropriate content. Completely agree with this. Like, they think I just crawled out from under a rock. I know it is not always possible 100% but if you dont want people looking at your MySpace, LiveJournal from when you were 16/20/24 do your best to try and get it taken down. Just because Im in public in a park, would it be OK for someone to set up a microphone to catch what I said, add it to a searchable database with my name and location tagged, and keep it online forever? The answer is definitely nope. And I say that as someone who isnt even a gambler, so its very unlikely that it would affect me personally. If youre uncomfortable asking them about something, then you probably shouldnt be snooping around about it either. First off, many people put things up in the old days before mega search engines. I do think, however, that references should have some idea of the positions/levels you are applying for, though I doubt that would have helped in this case. This debate reminds me of when a music video a certain Congresswoman made in college was re-posted by some of her political opponents. It was a creative way to encourage social connections when were in different locations. You can do it, but you shouldnt really. There are two dozen people on my team, but only four of us in this office; the rest, along with the manager, are in another state. In some places its not considered appropriate small talk stater. should I wear my wedding ring to an interview, client demands unlimited time, and more. Exactly. I knew of someone where their prior immigration status (think F-1 to OPT) was disclosed by a prev. I think those that are saying we shouldnt be googling coworkers are probably right, but its really not a question of should vs. shouldnt, but will vs. wont. The search results could be something the new CW posted herself. Nope. One personal example are the cringeworthy articles I wrote for my college newspaper. #3 theyre doing it because you went to HR. On the team I am prior experience comes up all the time because we all came from different companies prior. Thats more damage control than idle curiosity, though. I tend to go to the same supermarket around the same time on the same day, the people who are there will see me and learn that I shop on a regular schedule. The easier it is to get away with something and the fewer repercussions (if any) that will result, the more likely people are to indulge in activities they know arent right. In my field (academic librarianship), I have never heard of vendor swag becoming company property. The other thing that individualizes responses is whats actually out there on the internet about you. Pens and notepads usually fall under that amount. My job (which is essentially connecting teapot artists with teapot-producing companies who want to license their designs) by necessity involves a lot of Googling of people to find out what kinds of teapots they might like and as you note, social media plays a huge role in that. Some people are going to be bold enough to ask or try to get a closer look, on the theory that its showing and therefore not meant to be private, and a lot more are going to find it incredibly rude to do anything but ignore it. ), I actually think thats a great analogy here: keeping track/actively noticing what someone is publicly doing is just a few steps beyond normal., Looking up a coworker on LinkedIn and seeing they got their MBA from Local U? I think whats more important is what you do with that information if you happen to find it, not whether or not you looked it up. Its a social media network meant for work purposes and it tells you whos seen your profile. Ive actually reverse image searched some people from LinkedIn something sometimes just seems really off with some people. I actually dont post on social media much, maybe once or twice a year because I value my privacy. Whats something related I can do for my remote workers if Im going to feed the crew on-site? And THIS is why I no longer do social media. If the internet only existed for those two things it would be worth it. There is conversation happening all around you all the time that you could possibly pay attention to, but its not FOR you, and thats the difference. Im black myself, I cant say Ive ever felt the need to look at co-workers personal pages under the guise of safety. By participating in certain aspects/actions that society has deemed a public interest we give implicit consent to it being made public. And there can be good motivations and bad motivations. Its five answers to five questions. And by she I meant s/he the director of alpaca exams. Thats out on the internet forever. He was being considered as one of our first-responder positions so they took that type of stuff VERY seriously. Hope everything is well. I can fill in gaps. literature. I have a feeling they will agree with us. But dont default to Starbucks! Stop accepting a bad reality as just the way things are denounce it and dont participate in it. Fun story of when snooping can actually go right: after I departed my last job, the person who replaced me had never done that type of work and was really struggling. They pop up like flies. Worse, they keep sending me to various trainings for managers (Ive been a manager for 20 years) that are so juvenile I cannot figure out why they hired me to be a manager they obviously dont think Ive ever done it before. However I would never confront the person that information I found. I want to say to them, This training you are sending me to is stupid. Or are those giveaways company property, since the presentation was given to me on company time, in a company location? Even if information about is posted by you in a public forum, some ways of engaging with it can be creepy. But just because the information available about a person isnt *flattering* doesnt make it inappropriate, or a violation of privacy. If I have my blinds open I can see into their windows and they can see into mine. Im surprised more people arent mentioning this type of snooping. If you google someone and find something you want to act on VERIFY IT! we had a new employee a few years ago that was rumored to have harmed his ex) then any extent of search is fair game. I think this is a great way to look at it. I should note people are all about privacy in Idaho. Honestly, I cant really imagine searching them, unless they told me they had a DeviantArt page or something. This is very different then just doing one time google search. They talked about their food blog at a staff meeting and I wanted to check it out! (this one is real for me). To continue the analogy with social media, googling someone and looking at their profiles is also not a violation. I think it depends on what level the manager doesnt understand. I frequently google basic contact information usually through employer or professional listings and sometimes will come across something like X awarded prize in Occupation or X makes public announcement on Issue in Occupation, especially since some of these people have this sort of information on the sites I look at. 9 ) Respected by colleagues and employees in all levels of the organization. Personally Id rather have a co-worker tell me my vacation in Paris looked great, than someone checking in on my DUI from 1987 and potentially costing me a job (didnt happen, fictitious example..). Im not sure I follow. I assume they're doing the same to me. I have enough going in my own life to keep me occupied! You have the right to disagree with it or even find it creepy. Not all managers work face-to-face with their employees every day. You are equating two things that are vastly different from each other. They might have their own ideas of how you can make them feel appreciated. Assume your manager is smart and go from there. End up in a new story? Yes! They often involve lunch or refreshments and various other freebies (pens, notepads, letter openers, etc.). The best policy is to keep your mouth shut. And yes it would jade me with working with that person if they were doing it to avoid talking to me or judge my skills. While you can certainly find people who feel even a basic google search is an invasion of privacy, the internet is right at our fingertips and I dont think its a massive overstep to do a quick search because youre curious about someones professional background.
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