“So what are you saying, that you’ll settle for knowing as little as possible before hiring someone? “
Talk about a knee-jerk reaction. Respecting private information is considered wanting to know too little? That’s just plain stupid.
As you said, employment is at will. If the candidate turns out to have unsatisfactory work product then terminate them. It is that simple. This idea that candidates must be absolutely guaranteed perfect is unrealistic and shows those advocating Facebook reviews to be inexperienced and immature.
What exactly do you NEED to know about a candidate? What sexual positions they like? Their favorite flavor of ice cream? Who they are dating? The latest rave they went to? I don’t think so. Nosy busy-bodies need to grow up and stop being so stupid.
What you need to know about a candidate is not found in Facebook or any other web site. In fact, Colorado has a law that stipulates an employer may not use activities outside of work to determine employment status. This sort of personal privacy issue has come up many years before when employers tried to use political party affiliation to fire people, hence, this Colorado law. You only need to know if they are a wanted fugitive, a felon, and if they actually have the qualifications you need for the work to be performed. This idea that you want to stand in their bedroom and watch them have sex because you think you should be allowed to as their employer is sick and immature. If you are THAT insecure you have no business trying to hire people. Professionals only need a decent interview and to check references. Professionals know this isn’t a perfect world and while they get most candidate hires correct they find a few turkeys on occasion and know how to handle that situation.
Ding, ding, ding. You've finally got it - exactly wrong.
This is the whole point of the discussion. Have you ever had a mountain lion in your living room? Well, no problem, just throw him out - IT IS THAT SIMPLE! No. the smart home owner takes steps to prevent the lion from getting into his house in the first place.
It's not much different in business. Once an individual is hired - they're IN - they have ACCESS. Wouldn't you rather know if they had a history of drunkenness, philandering, racism - or worse yet, that they voted for Barrack Obama?
Knowledge is power. And if you're the smart business owner, you protect yourself first and foremost by the accumulation - and wise use of - the knowledge of who are your employees.
...Colorado has a law that stipulates an employer may not use activities outside of work to determine employment status.
So don't don't have the check-box on your intake application: "Is not a philandering drunk".
FWIW - Once upon a time I knew a guy who had a VP position in a successful business. He was a large part of the success of the company. His boss was a hard-nosed business type that had enjoyed success in many of his business endeavors over the years.
For some reason the boss decided to start intruding heavily into the personal lives of his employees. And when I say heavily I mean into places where NO ONE, much less an employer should go. Within a few months time, he has utterly wrecked the working environment that had been previously ideal for all involved.
Confronted by his employees, he took the “I am King” position with men that had been with him since day one and sacrificed years of their (personal) lives into building ‘his’ business (and their own company stocks).
Eventually he went so far over the edge that his No. 1 guy said ‘enough’ and walked. The fallout of that proved to be highly damaging to the company, which was put up for sale some time after. At a significant personal loss to his Majesty.
The moral of the story, if there is really one, is that business owners have the absolute right to do what they will with their company. They can hire who and for whatever reasons they want and set whatever terms of employment they choose. Likewise, they free to make the most asinine and self destructive business decisions imaginable to feed their egos and call it a ‘good business practice.’
Personally, I can say that every person that has hired me has gotten more than they paid for. I’ve walked out of interviews and took a couple serious financial hits over my unwillingness to work for the above type bosses. Life is too short to suffer fools, even high paying fools...and most aren’t high paying to begin with.
So is it fair game to ask for a FB password? IMO, yes. It’s also a good way to have great employees never work for (the general sense) you since that type of boss obviously is not smart enough to separate the boundaries between employment and private life.
FWIW/YMMV ETC