In the modern work environment, employees' use of social media can be an area of concern or tension, especially if their public comments reflect badly on the business or undermine the organisation’s brand or mission.
It’s not uncommon for employers to include social media activity in the reference-checking process before they decide to take on a new hire.
But despite the potential impact, many small business owners and managers feel as if monitoring or subsequently taking action in relation to employees’ social media usage is a grey area.
What about a person’s right to freedom of expression? What is public and what is private? How can you set expectations about what will and won’t be appropriate on social media?
Here are some recommendations on how to manage employees’ social media activity.
Include a social media clause in your employment contracts
Social media use isn’t covered by modern awards or registered agreements, so expectations around what employees can and cannot say and share on social media need to be set out in the employment contract and any related company policies and codes of conduct.
Make sure these expectations are clearly articulated and include what the consequences are for failing to adhere to them.
Giving examples can help, e.g. of social media behaviour that is inappropriate, might cause damage to the employer’s reputation, or which might cause it to be linked to derogatory, racist or other offensive comments.
Then if the employee doesn’t keep to the expectations laid out in the employment contract and other policies, you may be able to take disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
Communication is key
Once you define what constitutes offensive content and the potential consequences for violations, you need to go through your expectations and relevant policies with your employees to ensure they understand them.
Ensure employees review the documents from time to time to make sure they clearly understand their obligations. It’s also important to regularly remind staff that comments made on social media are not like chats around the water cooler, or conversations at a bar - it’s a broadcast platform like any other and people’s activity is etched in print forever.
“This is my personal opinion and doesn’t reflect that of my employer”
It’s common for people who write a rant on LinkedIn or elsewhere to think they’re covering themselves by saying: “This is my personal opinion and doesn’t reflect that of my employer”, but this may not be enough.
Depending on the status and the role of the person making the comments, and the nature of them, the publication of a post may bring the employer into disrepute or have an adverse impact on customer relations.
On platforms such as LinkedIn, it’s easy to see who someone’s employer is, so the distance between a person’s private behaviour and beliefs, and the perception of that person as a representative of their employer, is much narrower.
Context is critical. Whether or not an employee’s actions on social media are sufficiently connected to their employment will in each case need careful consideration of the nature of the actions and their potential impacts, as well as the nature of the employee’s role.
For example, if a receptionist believes that the moon landings were faked and that aliens are real, it isn't relevant to their job so the employer should probably leave this alone.
But if the employee is a science teacher and is posting about these beliefs, then that’s of concern to their employer and the school community who are trusting them to teach scientific principles and information to students.
Dealing constructively with customer complaints
Some ugly conversations can happen online between well-meaning employees and dissatisfied customers.
To avoid angry exchanges on social media, organisations will benefit from a policy that provides clear guidelines on how to respond to customer complaints in a constructive manner.
It may also be useful to have a company brand (or “tone of voice”) document that includes response templates to use when crafting messages to customers.
Getting input from an employment or HR specialist will help ensure the policies are robust and lawful.
It’s an ever-changing environment
Anyone active on social media can tell you the tone of the platforms is always changing, so it’s important to keep having conversations with your people about social media guidelines.
For example, LinkedIn has evolved from simply hosting résumés to becoming a networking hub and content-sharing platform, and many people who were vocal on Twitter or X are now moving their conversations to LinkedIn.
To make sure they remain current and effective, any social media clauses and policies should also be regularly reviewed and updated.
Be realistic
A lot of companies want their employees to advocate for them, and sharing assets, images or approved content can be a good way to do that. So while it’s crucial to set boundaries, you still want employees to be themselves online within those boundaries.
Also be aware that many social media algorithms prioritise certain types of content, including more controversial statements and emotional sharing, and people might not always present their thoughts politely.
If a staff member has a rant that may reflect on the organisation, take a moment to understand what might be behind it. It may be that the person is a bad hire, they could be having trouble in their personal life, or need support or counselling.
What to do when things go wrong
As with all challenges or threats to your business, managing any problematic social media use by employees takes leadership.
If someone is saying something discordant with the values of the company or wider society, it’s best to act quickly to address the social media use before things escalate further.
Your response should be considered, so acknowledge the issue and state the company’s position against the offensive content, but also ask for the person’s explanation before you agree to any action.
If you need to take formal action, treat it appropriately, as either a poor performance or misconduct issue.
