PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD Googling job applicants has become a ubiquitous step in the employment process. Online searches, however, can reveal damaging but irrelevant information that causes bias in employers. A new business, Social Intelligence, seeks to bypass this problem by doing the searches for employers and creating social-media-based background checks.
Founded last year as a subsidiary of Riv Data, Social Intelligence’s Hiring solution performs a combination of automated and manual reviews on job applicants. In the process—which takes 24 to 48 hours—the company prepares a profile of an applicant that highlights positive accolades, while flagging objectionable material. According to the company, such material can include “racist remarks or behavior, explicit photos and video, and illegal activity.”
While employer-performed searches inevitably turn up potentially discriminatory information, Social Intelligence Hiring filters out the “protected class” of information defined by federal law, including race, religion, sexual orientation and disability status.
The pre-employment screening process includes both automated and manual review of job applicants. (source: Social Intelligence)
The Federal Trade Commission has verified that the company’s searches and reporting are compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Social Intelligence Hiring asserts that the company creates a win-win situation: job applicants avoid potential discrimination, while employers avoid accusations. According to a recent article in The New York Times, however, some privacy advocates are concerned that the company accesses irrelevant information about potential employees.
“We are not detectives,” said Max Drucker, chief executive of the company, told The New York Times. “All we assemble is what is publicly available on the Internet today.”
While most employers and HR teams would only peruse the first handful of hits in an online search, much of the company’s data comes from deeper hits and small Websites, rather than major social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, according to The New York Times.
Social Intelligence also offers a monitoring service that provides real-time updates of employees’ online activities during work hours. The service is meant to increase workplace productivity while preventing bad publicity, company leaks and security violations. Putting the monitoring system in place is often enough to prevent problems. “Once workers know their online activity is being tracked,” reads a statement from the company, “they are much more likely to adhere to a social media policy.”
Does your company use pre-employment screening or monitor the social media activity of its workers? Discuss in the comments section below!
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