Social media has, for many people, become part and parcel of modern life. Whether your employees are using it as part of their job role to benefit your business or for personal reasons in their own time, it’s highly likely you will have social media users in your business. As such, it’s important to ask yourself, is your business ‘social media savvy’?
Have you:
1. Taken steps to protect your business from HR issues if employees use social media as part of their job?
2. Got an appropriate social media policy in place?
3. Thought about how you would handle suspected ‘online’ misconduct?
1. Taken steps to protect your business from HR issues if employees use social media as part of their job?
Whilst social media for business purposes can bring many benefits, it’s easy to overlook the importance of setting up for success. The clearer you are about what you expect from employees using social media as part of their job, the less likely it is that things will go wrong from a HR perspective.
Whether social media use as part of job roles is a recent move for your business or something you have been doing for a while, you might want to consider taking the following steps:
- Check that you have the policies in place that you need to cover work use of social media, for example a computer use policy that fits your business
- Ensuring there is appropriate guidance in place for relevant employees so they are aware of what is and isn’t permitted and that they are aware of expected performance standards in relation to their online work activities
- Provide appropriate training to employees to support them in their role and minimise the likelihood of issues arising. Sometimes things can change fast so keep in mind that that refresher / additional training may be needed, for example, in light of technological developments or to meet changing needs of the business
As you would expect, keeping appropriate records to demonstrate the steps you have taken will support your business, for example, if you do need to tackle a performance or conduct issue involving this area.
2. Got an appropriate social media policy in place?
Even if employees in your business don’t use social media as part of their job, it’s still beneficial for you to have a social media policy in place. This can give guidance to employees on social media use outside the workplace which could affect the business in some way or the employee in the workplace (e.g. sexual harassment of a colleague on social media outside working hours on a non-company device). It can be all too easy for employees to make posts in their own time without realising that in some situations there could be workplace implications, a position which neither they nor your business will wish to end up in.
As you would expect, such a policy is a balancing act – protecting business interests without being unreasonable or infringing employees’ rights, for example to use social media appropriately.
Need a social media policy for use in your business? Please get in touch, as we can help.
3. Thought about how you would handle suspected ‘online’ misconduct?
Whilst businesses hope online misconduct won’t happen, it’s helpful to be aware of some of the basics in case it does. Often, if something does ‘go wrong’ online, we find that it can be a worrying time for employers and there can be uncertainty over what to do, so here’s a few things to bear in mind:
- ‘Online misconduct’ should usually be approached in the same way as any other conduct issue. For example, for an employee who has two years’ service or more, if it’s a minor one-off act it may be appropriate to deal with it informally, if it’s potentially more serious an investigation will usually be needed and if warranted, formal disciplinary action may be required
- Keep things in perspective, whilst online misconduct can often be alarming to businesses, especially if there is concern around their reputation, it’s important to think carefully about what action is appropriate in the circumstances (and if a disciplinary process is followed, what a fair and reasonable outcome is).
It’s not unusual for employment tribunal claims in this area to be concerned with whether an employer’s decision – usually one to dismiss – was within the band of ‘reasonable responses’ and cases have been lost by businesses which have treated an incident as being more serious than a judge considered appropriate in the circumstances. For example, in Young v Argos the employer dismissed an employee for ‘liking’ a comment that her manager was as much use as a chocolate teapot. The tribunal found that no employer could have concluded that the employee’s actions amounted to gross misconduct and that the dismissal was unfair.
- If you are concerned about an online conduct issue in your business the first step will be to get in touch for specific advice on your situation. We can help you with guidance on initial steps and throughout any process, making sure you have the information you need to make decisions for your business. Remember, if you are concerned about the conduct of an employee with short service, it may be possible to deal with the matter more quickly and easily than would be the case with a longer-serving employee. However, it’s important to check whether there are any risks in your situation before acting.
Need HR help? Please get in touch for advice and support.