Social Media in the Workplace and its implications

Social media is a communication method which has grown exponentially in the last decade, with a global user base of 4.76 billion people, growing by 23 million users per quarter at current rates.

It is important for people’s liberty and freedom of speech to be protected and valued.

But where do business and HR draw the line between free speech and conduct? The potential damage to reputation from employees’ social media posts is an ambiguous and contentious issue.

Current stats and ideas about social media in the workplace

Social media can play a part in an employee’s relationship with their employer right from the engagement and recruitment stage. For example, Experian offer a social media check for potential new recruits which aims to mitigate any potential risk to a business reputation. The candidate’s online presence is screened for negative behaviour. This includes such things as bullying, racism, nudity and excessive bad language. It also identifies potential privacy risks such as leaking information which may pose a risk to the business for GDPR and information security compliance. But there is a risk associated with social media checks as the information may not be accurate. There is also the risk of it being taken out of context or may not even relate to the candidate. Candidates may also be put off by this kind of process as it could be considered a historical post with little current relevance and invasive to their privacy.

Social media could be an effective way for work colleagues to build healthy workplace relationships by sharing information about their interests, hobbies and professional achievements. Colleagues can learn more about each other and develop a better understanding of their personalities and work styles. If used professionally and in an appropriate manner, businesses may benefit from this as over half of UK employees say they value work relationships more than pay rises. Therefore, it could provide greater value to the job and workplace by raising the employer's brand reputation and keeping employees motivated for longer periods of time than money alone. However, this is also a double-edged sword, as there is the potential for employees to harass or bully colleagues over social media. There is also the potential that colleagues may see posts or interactions from peers which may cause offence or concerns around conduct.

Some roles may actively use social media as part of their jobs such as recruiters. Recruiters will actively promote job roles via platforms such as LinkedIn, and while they may be professional and promote a positive online presence, the organisation’s image will clearly be at the forefront of the actions they take on them. However, on another platform such as Twitter, they may take a more personal approach in using the platform to do what they wish to, which may be the case, if they are doing so in line with the user agreement. Consider the way that platforms, such as Twitter, are highly divisive and can cause the most rational of people to act in abhorrent ways, such as homophobic or racist language or attacks. This clearly would go against an organisation’s inclusion policy and in many cases an employer’s desire to be a diverse and inclusive employer.

It is not always clear-cut if social media is good or bad for employees or the business they work for and can be ambiguous. There are risks associated with social media use in the workplace, both for individual employees and for the organisation. For individual employees, social media activity that is deemed offensive or inappropriate by colleagues or managers can lead to disciplinary action or even termination of employment. Even if an employee’s social media activity is conducted outside of work hours or on personal devices, it can still reflect poorly on the organisation and impact workplace relationships and culture. It is also challenging to determine where to draw the line between an individual’s personal life, their freedom of speech and the impact their social media activity could have on their employer’s public image and professional relationships and to know when to act.

What can employers do and what are the potential impacts?

An organisation’s social media policy is important to set out as a part of its code of conduct, what a business expects of employees in terms of their social media conduct and how they should represent themselves and indirectly the business on their personal accounts. It could include the following guidelines outlining:

• The benefits of social media and that while the policy is in place to protect against reputational risk a balanced message is important to encourage some of the benefits businesses may experience, such as positive employer branding and improved workplace relationships.

• A brand guideline on how even personal social media should align with an organisation’s core values.

• Reference to any existing internet or email policy the organisation may have that clearly set’s out roles, responsibilities and organisational preferences. These should state that the policy covers social networking, multimedia and blogs both professionally and personally and should be clear on how the organisation feels they should post.

• A reminder that any online posts or interactions should not disclose information which is confidential or proprietary, amount to bullying, harassment or discrimination or cause offence.

• How employees will be informed of the policy and trained/supported to ensure they understand their responsibilities.

• Whether an organisation uses social media checks as part of their applicant checking process.

Depending upon the type of post or content that the employee posts online it may be necessary for the employer to act, especially if it brings into question the employer’s reputation or if employees are using the platform to bully colleagues or post content that is derogatory, offensive or against the organisation’s values. A fair investigation would need to be conducted to ascertain the facts in line with a disciplinary process, and it should be understood what policy the employees’ posts specifically breach such as diversity and inclusion, bullying and harassment, trust and confidence or reputational damage/bring the organisation into disrepute. An employer’s position in taking any form of action would be stronger if a social media policy is already in place and the guidance on posting is very clear and well explained to individuals at the point of recruitment/induction or when the policy is introduced. Some situations will be much clearer and easier to deal with, perhaps where comments are clearly directed at the employer or its staff, but in some cases where an individual is supporting an ideology or a view in the public domain, it can be harder to determine what breach has occurred and why.

There does need to be a balance because there is a risk to the employment relationship if employees feel they are being monitored and potentially gagged by their employer. Similarly, an action which is disproportionate or there are no grounds for action can put the employer in a precarious position for claims. As we have recently seen from the Gary Lineker – BBC debacle there can be a backlash against employers who act against employees based on their social media activity. Although Gary would have had clauses in his contract due to the need for the BBC to be impartial, there has still been a very public backlash against the corporation. This highlights the importance to conduct a risk assessment to understand the implications of any kind of action.

Sources:

Global social media statistics research summary 2022 [June 2022] (smartinsights.com)
Social media in the workplace | Acas
Social media checks – what are they and why are they important? – Experian UK
Half of UK employees value work relationships over a pay rise, survey finds (peoplemanagement.co.uk)

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