Sponsored by FAMA.
Today, we are discussing how today’s multi-generational workforce is more active online than ever, and why organizations need a proactive approach to online behavior. From political commentary and substance use to discriminatory language, having a thoughtful, consistent process in place can help you mitigate risk and make informed hiring decisions before issues escalate. But before we begin today’s podcast, I’ve got some homework for you. I want you to ask yourself these two questions:
Are you currently reviewing online behavior as part of your background screening process?
And number two, what examples have you seen in the media that reinforce the need for proactive monitoring?
MEET OUR GUEST: Ben Mones
We are so happy to be joined by Ben Mones, founder and CEO of Fama. Welcome back to the podcast, Ben. It’s always a joy to be with you and hear your smart insights.
Screening Internet Use
I think it’s important to have processes in place to protect our organizations, our people, our reputations, and provide a culture of safety. So, having said all that, how is the six, I just said six everybody, put your seat belts on, six generation workforce shaping how we should update our screening approach?
We’re not talking about asking employers to do anything different in the methodology or in the why or in the purpose, but we’re talking about changing the practice itself and, I guess, evolving the method to a degree that supports the why historically, which is essentially to say, again, are we evolving how we screen to reflect the demographic changes that we’re seeing? Because to your point, things are evolving quickly in the marketplace that we’re in. We’ve seen a range of different things that have happened over the past year. I think we saw the very unfortunate, the murder of Charlie Kirk and a lot of people on both sides who were talking very negatively about the person’s murder and that blowback on employers. We saw that last year. That was the big seminal event in our space of real employer risk. But the broader implications outside of these temporal events, we saw in our data last year that multiple incidents of misconduct are now occurring every 30 days for the clients that we work with in other roles.
Legal Compliance
Let’s get into regulatory compliance. How does this compliance factor in and what should listeners understand early so it doesn’t become this big thing later?
Yeah, it’s funny when you’re starting a company and make business decisions about where you want to place your bets, but one of the bets we made early on was investing in compliance ahead of the curve. And so, we are, for those of you in the know and love talking about compliance, open up your ears because we are a FCRA, GDPR-compliant company, EU AI Act, New York AI Act, PETA in California. Part of that for us was saying that the use and the bet that the use of these technologies was only going to advance. And that consumer discussion around consumer rights, and whether it was governments like the European Union, for example, or state governments in New York and California that set the tone for privacy and consumer law around the rest of this country, those are going to begin to affect how this technology is deployed and look no further than the eightfold AI lawsuit that’s going on right now where they’re essentially, “Hey, look, check out how this person scored,” et cetera. But that candidate never gets an opportunity to dispute or review those scores.
Monitoring Employees Online
What is your recommendation on ownership approach and cadence for initiatives that monitor employees and candidates online behavior?
So, I think the first thing you have to ask yourself on the pre-employment side are like, “What do we care about from a behavior perspective? What are we screening for? What matters to us when it comes to behavior and risk for people that we’re hiring?” Same question for your existing workforce. We’re not talking about in any of these cases really, if someone in the US election voted for Trump or Harris, we’re not talking about what your stance on illegal immigration is. We’re not talking about all these touchy subjects that you don’t bring up at Thanksgiving, you don’t bring up in front of your in-laws for a reason because they don’t come up at work and they shouldn’t come up at work. But when I’m looking at my existing workforce, I might be looking at people who are leaking confidential information about my business.
For More Information on Monitoring Online Misconduct
First, listen to today’s full podcast episode! And be sure to subscribe to the #WorkTrends Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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