According to a study published today in the Irish Times, “83 percent of employers have monitored individual’s Facebook statuses to check whether an employee was truly ill with the result that 67 percent of company bosses have disciplined staff for bogus sickness after discovering the real reason for them being absent”. Not only are employees being tracked when away from work but their employers are trying to catch them using Facebook while at work.

According to the study, “74 percent of Irish employees have admitted to being caught out by their boss for using social networking websites during work hours.” That’s not really surprising. Another study that we wrote about stated that the vast majority of younger employees would quit a job if they were prevented from accessing Facebook.

All this news appears to be part of a larger trend which is the clash of professional and personal lives. As our lives become more public the lines have become blurred and there is no longer a distinct difference between the two parts of our lives. Honestly, if you don’t want to get caught for repeatedly skipping work and lying about being sick you may want to make your profile private and not friend your employer.

Have you been burned by Facebook when skipping work? Are you friends with your employers on Facebook?