Growing thicker skins

At the start of the month came the news that a teacher was suspended over comments made on Facebook:

in which she said she felt like a “warden” overseeing “future criminals.”

Now, if you were the parent of a child attending her school, you might not be impressed with the comment. But before storming the school gates, perhaps pause for thought first. Did it warrant a suspension versus a warning about talking shop on Facebook and looking into what caused the comment?

Organisations continue to struggle with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, whether it is using them as part of work or coping with their use outside of work.

And so do individuals. We are all going to have to develop thicker skins as our lives become increasingly transparent to others and our foibles get exposed to a much bigger audience than ever happened in the past.  But it goes both ways. More fool the HR department that bins a candidate because they did something stupid and posted it online in their youth. They should worry more about those with an opaque history.

Reference

• Teacher suspended over alleged Facebook comment – North Jersey News, April 2010