Question of the Month

Each month our Senior Generalists answer questions, on a broad range of topics, from our Employer's HR HelpLine clients. At the end of the month, we review our client questions and pick one to share. Each question has been thoroughly researched and verified. To protect our clients' privacy, company names and identities will not be divulged in any of our questions.

June, 2009 Question:

"I recently found out that we have a few employees using online social networking sites after hours where they’ve made some disparaging comments about our company. What can or should we do?"

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 33% of all Americans are using at least one of the social networking sites, including Myspace.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, LinkedIn.com, etc. In addition, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 19% of these social networking users visit their pages several times a day and 24% of the users check their pages once a day.

That said, it is becoming increasingly common for employers to try to limit employees from postings disparaging comments about the Company, or from discussing the Company’s business, while blogging and social networking by adopting a policy which makes it clear that such conduct is prohibited and will not be tolerated.

Here are some thoughts to consider when creating your company’s policy:

1. It should fit well with your organization’s current policies. Some of these policies include: harassment policy, electronic data policy/Internet and E-mail policy, and your confidentiality policy or confidentiality agreement.
2. The policy should state that discussing or disclosing confidential or proprietary information relating to your organization (including information about your organization’s clients/customers, vendors, employees, business partners, etc.) is not acceptable or allowed.
3. Make sure that it’s clear that any use of your organization’s name, logo, trademarks, or copyrighted material is strictly prohibited. This should also include the use of their company email address.
4. The policy should also remind employees that they be respectful of their employer, co-workers, customers, and so on. The information they post on the Internet is, for the most part, available to the public. Postings on blogs, tweets, personal websites, and the like, that may reflect negatively on the organization is prohibited.

Internet tools such as these will continue to develop, as long as the desire to use them exists. We encourage employers, managers, and supervisors to get educated about these networking tools. Many of these sites have the potential to market your company’s products or services, provide qualified candidates for your company’s recruiter, or provide updates to your existing clients and/or customers.

For more information about this topic, or if you would like assistance in creating your own social networking policy, please contact The Employer’s HR HelpLine at (651) 688-0395.