Can employer enforce to wear name badge which includes surname

Undervalued

shortcrust wrote: »

I sort of get the concern but I’m a health prof and as mentioned above we have no choice. I’ve never heard of it causing a problem for anyone despite us often having very intense and/or fraught relationships with clients.

Perhaps people over estimate how much interest other people have in them!

Quite!

Plus, as we see frequently on this forum, people put stuff on social media which they would find embarrassing if their employer or professional body was to find out! Ultimately the real issue is with how they have behaved in the first place and have then compounded the problem by allowing it to become publicly accessible.

[Deleted User]

ScarletMarble wrote: »

My friend's employer, is planning to do so as currently just wear name badges with first names, Some are worried that customers could trace their details on social media etc

Less troublesome if you've not an easy surname to begin with

At the start of the year (so yes 2019) working in a hotel which was a group brand property then became an independent so at least two name badges were issued, I had a name badge with full name incl surname ....I also had a company email address which revealed full name alone in it's address body. They said it was GDPR issue to use a central generic mailbox when the changeover took place. :cool:

Whilst last summer, a backstreet company doing telesales said it was GDPR issue to identify anyone in full eg. unable to write their full name on a target achieved board that was in public view in the office - and they were correct. I was runner up in an interview recently for a Receptionist in a Solicitor's firm "who's client base was the Waitrose of supermarkets" for using the above example in answer to a GDPR question.

Currently in hospitality again, I wear a name badge with just first name although I do wear my own clothes rather then a company uniform. More of an issue is our front desk PC which is on public view and very worrying but hey ho. (I'm just someone with attitude in the work place according to some here.)

Many Years ago I nearly had an issue when a guest decided to write my full name onto our industry's review site - it was after a few years finally taken down when it emerged a) someone else living out there has my exact name b) GDPR and right to be forgotten rules came in c) hotel has changed ownership and now has a different name.

I've never had a customer hunt me down yet on social media, maybe if I've applied for a job however as part of a recuitment process, they may have reason to look me up. So friend has far bigger worries, possibly.

I like to think people and social media have grown up and do notice now on above site where I had potential for trouble that people identify employees as receptionist, chef etc.
Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.

haras_nosirrah

I have a friend who is a social worker.
She used her first and middle name on Facebook (no surname)
Another friend who is a teacher has removed all the vowels from his Facebook name

parking_question_chap

I can completely understand why they would not want a badge with their surname. I am not even sure what the purpose is.

Years ago I worked in retail I didnt even like wearing a badge with my first name. I dont know about other people, but I felt very odd when a complete stranger dropped my name into the conversation. Fortunately it was a very large store and there was no shortage of old name badges, so I wore the name Derek for the vast majority of my time there. Got a good few double takes looking at the badge, dont think there were many 18 year olds called Derek.

aau1

Marvel1 wrote: »

Social media, just need to change privacy settings, easy enough.

When I send letters out, my full name is on there.

Don't see the problem.

I can't believe it took so long for someone to state that

t0rt0ise

I used to work with customers who would threaten to "find out where you live". We only had first names on our badges!

JReacher1

MacMickster wrote: »

I really don't see the issue.

People who do jobs which are much more likely to result in ongoing flack outside of work use their full names quite freely. Think of police officers, tax inspectors, DWP investigators etc. In reality I suspect that there are very few instances of "clients" subsequently looking them up and harrassing them outside of work.

Don't be so precious about your name.

If you don't see the issue then why have you set yourself up on this forum with an anonymous name? Surely you should just use your full name as your username?

I would suspect that police officers and the like put security around their social media accounts to avoid being harassed.

There are unfortunately too many unpleasant people in the world and I don't think you should put your staff at risk by exposing their full name unless you have a valid reason

Undervalued

JReacher1 wrote: »

If you don't see the issue then why have you set yourself up on this forum with an anonymous name? Surely you should just use your full name as your username?

I would suspect that police officers and the like put security around their social media accounts to avoid being harassed.

There are unfortunately too many unpleasant people in the world and I don't think you should put your staff at risk by exposing their full name unless you have a valid reason

So you would be quite happy not to know the real name of you children's school teachers? Your doctor? Your dentist or indeed any police officer you interacted with? You would not want to check that your gas fitter was legally registered?

In my opinion, in all but the most exceptional circumstances I think it is a fundamental right to know you are dealing with. Hiding identity is open to all kinds of abuse and it is not the right way of solving a problem, if indeed there is a problem to solve. As I have indicated virtually every "professional" is prohibited from disguising their identity when dealing with clients so why should other occupations be any different?

JReacher1

Undervalued wrote: »

So you would be quite happy not to know the real name of you children's school teachers? Your doctor? Your dentist or indeed any police officer you interacted with? You would not want to check that your gas fitter was legally registered?

No of course not. I would have a valid reason for knowing the full name of these types of people.

I do not however have a valid reason why I need the full name of the checkout person at Tesco.....

Owain_Moneysaver

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Fortunately it was a very large store and there was no shortage of old name badges, so I wore the name Derek for the vast majority of my time there. Got a good few double takes looking at the badge, dont think there were many 18 year olds called Derek.

You're lucky.

When I worked in a hotel I was Diane for several weeks. :rotfl: :rotfl:

Nobody actually noticed.