Keeping pace with social media in the workplace

BY ROBERT BYERS

Social media’s impact on employers and employees has clearly affected the workplace. According to the 2009 Deloitte LLYN Ethics & Workplace Survey, “58 percent of executives agree that reputational risk and social networking should be a boardroom issue.”

As opposed to traditional and generally more costly media vehicles, social media encompasses and leverages a wide variety of highly accessible technologies and tools. Companies have observed the growing usage of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the like among their employees and even have adopted them as part of their marketing and branding efforts. In the process, however, the delineation between what is personal and what is work-related has become a challenge for employers to manage.

Some of the issues involve:

• Electronic assets. Regarding employee use/abuse of company computer and phone systems, many employers have established some sort of employee monitoring.
• Personal privacy. Depending on the extent, monitoring employee phone calls, e-mail or social networking sites may leave an employer vulnerable to claims of infringing on employee privacy.
• Confirm the minimum. Company policies should be in place regarding employee accountability and responsibility of protecting privileged company and client information as well as any consequences.
• Confidentiality and proprietary information. Guidelines must be clearly communicated about the dissemination of company information and the circumstances in which that information can be shared.
• Harassment, discrimination and threats of violence. Any such evidence, complaint, or violation of relevant company policies must be handled and resolved immediately by management.

An employer can take essentially four approaches towards managing social media in the workplace:

1. Completely restrict access;
2. Tolerate it with no monitoring;
3. Strictly limit use for only business purposes; or
4. Acknowledge it with clear management expectations and company policies.

When creating a social media policy, the following are some elements that should be included:

• A definition of social media for the purpose of understanding the policy.
• An acknowledgment that employees may be using social media in the workplace.
• Explanation and scope of the employer’s right to monitor employee activities on the company's electronic assets, during work hours, etc.
• Consequences of making unprofessional or otherwise harmful publications on the Internet. ■

Robert Byers is chief operating officer of MyPayrollHR.com. He can be reached at (866) 697-2947 or rbyers@mypayrollhr.com.