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Employees like to think that what they do on their own time is their own business, but that's not always the case. According to a 2009 survey by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute, 27% of companies have policies about what employees can post on personal blogs. "You have to think about whether this will come back to haunt you," says Nancy Flynn, executive director of the institute.
That never occurred to Nate Fulmer, a warehouse manager for chemical supplier Environmental Express. Mr. Fulmer and his wife made fun of a local church sermon in a podcast they posted online in 2005. Mr. Fulmer says it got so much attention, his boss listened to it, thought it was offensive and fired him. "I was so blindsided," he says. (A company spokesperson says the firm has new ownership and can't comment on employee matters.) According to Ms. Flynn's survey, 2% of companies have dismissed employees over the content of personal social-networking pages. Ms. Flynn recommends employees check company policy before posting anything online and steer clear of potentially offensive content, even if it has nothing to do with work.
