The figures relating to social media usage are astounding. There are currently 2.3 billion active social media users across the world but what is acceptable use of social media in the workplace and how can you protect your business against online risk?
Employers need to keep up to date with development in this rapidly changing area of law. In the advent of new technologies, the lines between work and home life are becoming increasingly blurred. Whilst social media platforms are valuable communication and marketing tools, employees use social media whether inside or outside of the workplace could be affecting productivity or even worse be damaging to the reputation of your business.
It is therefore vital for businesses to have a clear, tailored and well communicated social media policy in place to include:
- The acceptable use of internet and social media for private use at work
- Private posting which could impact on an employer’s reputation
- The use and checking of privacy setting on social networking sites
In particular, if specific members of staff are responsible for representing your business online, it is imperative that you set appropriate rules for the disclosure of information and the expression of opinions.
If your organisation doesn’t currently have a policy covering social media, or you haven’t revisited your existing rules and guidelines in a while, why not get in touch to set up a review?
The Employment team at Mincoffs can review your internal policies to see if they cover employees use of social media in company time and if necessary can produce a social media policy tailored to your business, outlining what is and what is not acceptable behaviour concerning the use of the internet, e-mail, smart phones and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
To speak to a member of our expert employment law team about implementing or reviewing the social media policies in place at your organisation call 0191 281 6151 or contact Nick Smith, Head of Employment at nsmith@mincoffs.co.uk
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