Should what you do outside of work affect your job?

[Screamarie]

So this has been mulled about in my head for a while but I've never been able to figure out a reasonable answer because I can see both sides. Now what brought this on is watching Penn & Teller's Bullshit episode on manners.

In the episode it talks alot about people who are fired for actions that they took outside of work. One specific example is Ellen Simonetti. She was a stewardess on a delta airline. She also had a blog all about being a stewardess. She had never named the airline she worked on.
Anyways she took some pictures of herself while on various planes, nothing illicit, simply her sitting on the seats, though there was one picture where you could see a silver of her bra.
The company found out about the blog and pictures and fired her for "inappropriate" pictures on a delta airline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Simonetti - for more information if you want it. The episode also talked about a police officer who was fired for making offensive jokes in his comedy act, a reporter was fired for a racial joke in his blog, and a truck driver who was fired because he wore women's clothes outside of work.

Another example of this is in another Bullshit episode about sensitivity training. Specifically John Rocker who was an American Major League Baseball player and he was fired for something he said in an interview. He was asked the question if he would ever want to play for the New York Yankees or Mets.
His response allegedly was "I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the 7 Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing... The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_rocker - more information here

Now this just makes me wonder, should what you say and do out of work be reason to fire you? Should your facebook profile be means to give you a pink slip? Or should your personal life not be considered by your employers?

I can honestly see both sides. Your personal life is your personal life, that shouldn't affect your working life. As long as your nice to your customers and only a prick outside of work, that's not your employers business. If you wish to have a different sexual life as long as you don't bring it to work, your business. Yet at the same time, can you really blame the MLB for getting rid of Rocker if that is a direct quote from him? You wouldn't want someone like that putting off viewers and ticket buyers.

Now I know Ellen and John's situations are pretty different. John is in the public eye, Ellen wasn't. But then where do you draw the line? Where's the line you cross that means you're "representing a company" and not just yourself? Does the fact that you're out of uniform really mean you no longer have to answer to the people you work for?

Normally I would post what I think and feel but like I said I don't have an opinion because I can see both sides so...you guys discuss, see what you think about feel about this, maybe someone will convince me.

 

[Carolyn Ross]

That's really bad. I think it shouldn't affect the employers. But nowadays employers are so much worried about competitors and disclosure of there companies secrets, that they don't want anyone to even discuss about anything outside offices. And I think this was the reason Ellen Simonetti was thrown out of the job for such a silly cause.

 

[ffs-dontcare]

I think it depends a fair bit. For the most part, no, I don't think what you do outside your job should affect it.

However... I'll give you an example of the contrary.

Officially speaking, I do three shifts a week at Mobil. However, my co-workers all know I'm free to do an extra shift or two per week if they really need me to because of something important. They just need to arrange it with me a good while beforehand. Sometimes they do need me short-notice though. Which is fine.

I'm not allowed to come to work inebriated which doesn't really matter because I don't drink BUT let's assume I do for the sake of this post. Now, if I were to drink a fair bit right before an arranged shift, then yes, that is an instance where I should get in trouble for it because I did something outside of work that actually still affects work.

However, if I had been drinking and then got a call from a co-worker asking me if I could come and cover a shift for them right now or maybe an hour or two from now... well, that's a "no" from me because due to my drinking, I can't cover that shift. And they can't have a go at me for it because what I do in my spare time is my business. Make sense?

In the previous paragraph, you can replace "drinking" with "being three hours away" or whatever. But the result is the same. Realistically speaking, unless me covering that shift was arranged, I cannot and should not get in trouble for being unavailable for that reason.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

well it depends on what you did.
i mean, if you were a lumberjack and killed someone with a chainsaw, sure. but if you were a lumberjack and learned to juggle chainsaws on video where nobody could get hurt, with your own saws, then no.

basically, if it affects your company negatively, ie if you go into work completely pissed OR throw people under your bus company's buses, then yes.
if it doesnt, then no.

 

[pyramid head grape]

People in a company, speak for the company.

 

[BabyRaptor]

If it doesn't affect the employers in any way, it shouldn't be a condition of employment.

 

[krazykidd]

well it depends on what you did.
i mean, if you were a lumberjack and killed someone with a chainsaw, sure. but if you were a lumberjack and learned to juggle chainsaws on video where nobody could get hurt, with your own saws, then no.

basically, if it affects your company negatively, ie if you go into work completely pissed OR throw people under your bus company's buses, then yes.
if it doesnt, then no.

I disagree , knowing that your employees are careless and reckless and could cause bodily harm to himself and others is not a very good thing . It doesn't shed a good light on the company.

My answer is yes . It should . Remember the girl on facebook that had a depression and had pictures of her at a party? Bad , she doesn't look depressed. Remember the teacher who was also a porno actress? Bad , someone that children should look up to being in those kinds of movies is not a good light to show teachers in .

Thing is where you are working for someone , it is your responsibility to be seen in a way that wouldn't shame the company and it's clients . We live in a very superficial world , doing things like that and having a company not do anything is as of they were supporting these acts . Now i am all for live and let live , but when you are representing someone or a group if people it is important that you don't do anything to shame them .