Protecting Your Company & Employees – Legal Considerations for Social Media in the Workplace. 

Again a request from customers relating to exactly what the potential risks are relating to staff and their use of social media platforms online.  This is an incredibly tricky blog post, simply because there are very few case studies to use to formulate a well thought out post, and because laws differ from region to region.  Certainly if you haven’t done so already and you are responsible for Human Resources, Corporate Communications or even the running of a company you should be drafting up policy documentation relating to how your employees use social media platforms within and outside the workplace.  So what are the risks? There are lots of risk points for any corporation or person but here are a few that I can jump on right away and suggest at least an interim solution in terms of policy.

You’re Employees – Speaking on behalf of your brand

It’s not unusual for employees to be talking about your market conditions or your competitors online, however if your employees are directly defaming companies or competitors, making statements that may have direct impact on your competitors capability or status your company as the employer may be liable for such statements.  We suggest that every HR policy clearly states that firstly employees should not discuss matters relating to the company or its business within the realms of their own social media accounts, and secondly that they agree in writing that they have no ability to speak on behalf of the company and that their opinions and liability for those opinions is theirs alone.  If this sounds a little controlling consider how offended you would be if a sales person at your number one competitor directly defamed your brand by branding your products, services or people as “CRAP”.  Such a post could quickly land you in a lawsuit for making pretty unsubstantiated and general claims of your competitors that have been designed to adversely impact their business and capability to compete.  Make sure your employees know that this is just not on the agenda, and ensure that these policies are clearly communicated to your staff.

You’re Employees – Speaking about your company business 

Without naming names there have been a large number of posts from employees that directly communicate company strategy to anyone that’s interested.  The integrity of your company business, its strategy and its competitive weaknesses are at stake unless you incorporate policies to protect it and monitor for the same.  I have personally monitored employee’s blog posts at major multi-national companies explaining that new products were not up to standard or not working, or explaining that the company was going through a major restructure and their jobs were at risk.  All information that any competitor would gladly consume and use to their advantage I am sure we would all agree.  Ensure that your company privacy policy also incorporates employee’s blogs & social media channels.  In short they should not discuss what is happening on social media channels outside of the work place.  As we know the nature of social media is akin to word of mouth – and just like word of mouth people talk.  Of course there is another argument to this point, in that you should let employees communicate freely and monitor activity and discuss issues frankly and openly with them.  Personally I think this is not a valid corporate strategy – it’s akin to shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

You’re Employees – Using Social Media Tools at work

How you let your employees use social media tools at work is of course your choice; however you should keep in mind that sales teams using tools such as linked in, marketing departments using twitter and employees using Facebook should all have their own set of best practices defined and communicated to prevent a potential disaster situation.   Certainly don’t discuss competitive issues online, be careful when commenting on other companies or brands and certainly keep your eye on exactly what your competitors are saying about your brand as a matter of good practice.

Past Employees - Using Social Media to "Have a go"

Some of the best examples of past employees making commentary on their company have come from the Middle East in my opinion.  One publishing company in particular were lambasted when they laid off a large number of staff – as a result all sorts of interesting company sensitive information came out of the woodwork from opinions on the CEO to the way the company operates in general.  This was obviously a pretty badly executed redundancy round and the feedback was such that the company was referred to as a “Sweat shop for journalists” on a number of occasions.  Of course this is not my opinion, but certainly the fall out was anything but positive for the company.  When these types of situation happen it’s almost impossible to put a lid on them, but certainly quick, relevant and considered feedback from the company in response to various blog posts would have at least confirmed that they were listening or at very least gone some way to reduce the amount of negative “chatter” on various well read social media blogs.   There is also the matter of confidentiality – surely if the company had linked redundancy or exit payments to the company’s non disclosure and privacy policy less would have been said, or maybe it would have been said in a more considered way.  The best way to deal with these instances is with one on one consultation with the offending past employee, of course that is not always possible if the employee has shrouded themselves in the anonymity of a dummy email account or a blog post.  Any company about to run through a redundancy round or dealing with unhappy employees should bring in the right people to ensure that its executed properly and that the employee is fully aware of the consequences of such actions should they be found to be libelous, defame the company or be based on non accurate information.

Legal Recourse

Some Legal Examples

Don’t believe me? Here are some examples to whet your appetite if you are considering your HR policy as it applies to social media:
 
Four Teens Sued for Facebook Profile

Chicago Womens Tweet to Cost $50,000? 

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment