Social Media and the Workplace

Does your company have a social media policy? If not, it’s time that you adopt and implement one. Social media can no longer be simply dismissed as a fad or an emerging technology. Like it or not, social media is part of the mainstream. This communications genre includes such popular applications as Facebook, Twitter, flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogtv, qik, plurk, and Plaxo, to name only a few. The use of these social media outlets is growing exponentially. If you are not plugging into social media in some way now, you probably will be soon, and most, if not all, of your employees are already doing so.

As social media has moved into the mainstream, employers must now consider how to address the use of social media outlets by their employees, in and outside of the workplace. Social media allows individuals to engage with and be connected to each other and everyone else on-line in ways unimagined a few years ago. Overall this is a positive development, but, like all things, the negative aspects of such increased engagement and connectivity must be anticipated and addressed by employers. The rapid increase in connectivity that social media outlets provide has blurred the lines between personal and professional lives, and the potential for employee misuse of social media is great. Examples of misuse include, among other things, employer/supervisor- bashing on-line, on-line breaches of confidentiality and loyalty, cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment.

In short, a social media policy attempts to curb the negative aspects of social media by establishing company guidelines for communication conducted through social media outlets. As an employer, you have the right to set guidelines and expectations with respect to how your employees communicate through social media, just as you have the right to set such standards for use of e-mail and contact with traditional media such as television, newspapers and radio. Your employees represent your company when they are at work and when they are in public, whether that public is live or virtual.

To be effective, a social media policy must be tailored to your company. One size fits all is not a concept that will work well here. The policy needs to take into account, among other things, your industry, company culture, and overall expectations of the employee and the employer. Other elements that are important to consider within your social media policy include:

The policy should cover every employee of the company. Buy-in from management will be critical to success;

The policy should reflect the culture of the company;

Transparency, honesty and respect with respect to the use of social media should be required;

Unambiguous disclaimers (e.g., “the views reflected here are those of employee x and not of company y”) should be required when appropriate;

The policy should clearly state what types of social media are allowed during work hours (e.g., on breaks) and what types are prohibited. Many companies have banned the use of social media at work entirely;

The company’s established non-disclosure and confidentiality policies should be reflected within the social media policy;

The policy should require that users differentiate between their personal and business identities;

The policy should make it clear to employees that other company policies, such as those governing discrimination and harassment, apply to the employee’s use of social media as well;

Employees should be made aware of the fact that their social media use may be monitored, whether they engage during work or at home; and

Company logos should not be used without permission.

Social media is here to stay and simply too big for employers to ignore. In order for your company to harness the beneficial attributes of social media, while lessening its negative potential, a formal social media policy will be necessary. As with all employee policies, the social media policy your company adopts should be well-considered and reviewed by human resource professionals and employment law attorneys.

Randall S. Beach is a partner at the law firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP. He heads the firm’s Plattsburgh, NY office.