One in five employers in the finance sector are judging interviewees on what they find on social media, says a new report.

Research on UK employees has found the finance sector to be the most likely to be judgemental of interviewers and interviewees based on what they find on their social media profiles.

Some 42% of finance sector employees also said they wouldn’t accept managers as ‘friends’ on Facebook, compared to 35% overall average.

A new study into the blurring lines of personal and professional social media use has found that those working within the finance sector were most likely to be the most judgemental of what they find on social media about an interviewee or interviewer, with 1 in 5 (19%) saying that what they’ve found has altered their judgement of them.

The finance sector was also the most picky about who they accepted as ‘friends’ on Facebook, with 42% saying they wouldn’t accept their manager, compared to a 35% UK average.

However, the study – carried out in October 2015 of over 1,000 UK employees – also found that the finance sector was the most cooperative with their employer’s social media rules, with over half (55%) stating they’ve read and follow their company’s social media policy, compared to a 39% average.

The research identified key facts about employees’ social media use in varying sectors:

• 18% of UK employees don’t even know if their company has a social media policy 
 • 1 in 4 (25%) said that they would think carefully before posting content or pictures on social media about how it could affect theirs or someone else’s professional reputation.
 • 28% of UK employees were happy to accept any work colleague as a ‘friend’ on Facebook.

The Marketing & Advertising sector is the most social media savvy with 36% admitting they check their social media profiles before applying for a job (18% average), 23% stating they’re happy to promote their company through social media (12% average) and 58% stating they’ve read and follow their company’s social media policy – 19% more than the average.

The research follows a number of high-profile cases where employees have posted offensive, defamatory or ill-judged content from their personal social media account – thrusting their employer into the spotlight in the process.

The survey was conducted of over 1,000 employees across eight sectors working in the UK. It was commissioned by online reputation management company Igniyte and carried out by The Leadership Factor.

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