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In the modern work environment, employees' use of social media can be an area of concern or tension, especially if an employee's public comments reflect badly on the business or undermine the organisation’s brand or mission.
It’s not uncommon for employers to include a review of the candidate’s 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 is and isn’t appropriate for employees to share on social media?
Here are some recommendations on how to manage employees’ social media activity.
Include a social media clause in your employment agreements
How much an employer can dictate to their employees what they can and cannot say on social media begins with the employment agreement.
The relationship between employee and employer is one of agreement (a contract of payment for service), so the employer is entitled to set reasonable expectations up front in the employment agreement and related policies and codes of conduct.
Make sure you clearly define and articulate these expectations, and include what the consequences are for failing to adhere to them (such as disciplinary action).
It’s also useful to provide examples of social media behaviour that is inappropriate, might cause damage to the organisation’s reputation (such as criticism of management or your products or services), or which might cause the company to be linked to derogatory, racist or other offensive comments.
This can be done in the policy where you can typically include more expansive terms and include specific examples of inappropriate social media use.
Then if the employee doesn’t keep to the expectations laid out in the employment agreement and other policies, you may be able to take disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal (in serious cases).
Small employers might not typically have social media policies or clauses in their employment agreements, but it’s easy to fix. MyHR’s standard employment agreements have a clause which covers social media use, and the consequences for behaviour that is disparaging or inappropriate in relation to the employer.
What to include in company social media guidelines
The details of your social media policy will depend on the nature of your business, but here are some key elements you should cover:
- Which roles are authorised to use the organisation's social media accounts or post on behalf of the company.
- Clear guidelines around discussing work-related matters or referencing the employer on personal social media accounts.
- Consequences for posting content that could:
- Bring the company into disrepute.
- Reveal commercially sensitive information.
- Violate privacy or anti-discrimination laws, e.g. the Human Rights Act 1993.
- Provide evidence of other misconduct linked to employment, e.g. an employee posting images of recreational activity when they are on sick leave.
- Rules regarding the use of company time and equipment for social media activities, and procedures in place for monitoring social media use at work.
Communicating expectations is key
Once you define what constitutes inappropriate content and the potential consequences for violating the social media policy, 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. Using an HR software platform such as MyHR makes it easier to create, update, and share any document, and you can track employee acknowledgement or automate reminders to ensure all staff read and accept your policies.
It’s also a good idea to regularly remind your team 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 posts about their beliefs that the moon landings were faked, it isn't relevant to their job so the employer should probably leave this alone.
But if the employee is a science teacher, 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 unpleasant 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. This should include instructions to move contentious conversations to less-public channels, e.g. email, so you can deal with complaints or dissatisfaction directly.
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.
Social media is constantly evolving
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.
Tik Tok has quickly become a channel of note for businesses, and a viral post from a customer or employee can turn the business into a hero or pariah virtually overnight.
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 great way to empower them to do so. So while it’s crucial to set boundaries, you still want employees to be themselves online within those perimeters.
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. The best approach is always to talk to the employee to see what motivated the post (or comment), and if they were fully aware of the implications. From there you can decide whether you need to take action or provide clearer guidance.
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, and always be sure to follow fair and reasonable process.
