SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY – A MUST FOR BUSINESS

Having a social media policy in place is a must for business owners, warns the HR team from Stockport based Hallidays.

As technology has become more prevalent in the workplace, loss of productivity amongst employees has risen. Browsing the internet, texting all day, bidding on eBay, going on Facebook, even setting up their own business whilst on your time, are just some of the disciplinary cases employers face.

And the problems associated with social media are not just limited to within the workplace; employees have the means to voice their opinions about businesses away from their desks too – and not always posting positive comments.

Virgin Atlantic faced problems when 13 employees wrote on a Facebook group that the planes were full of cockroaches and described passengers as “chavs”. Apple had a similar issue when an employee from one of its stores posted derogatory remarks on his private Facebook page about an Apple application and sarcastically described an iPhone as a “Jesus Phone”.

Speaking at their Cyber Crime event held earlier this week, the Hallidays HR team warned businesses about the importance of having a Social Media policy in place:

“By putting a social media policy in place, employers can set guidelines on the acceptable use of social media and better protect themselves against legal liability and reputation damage. In the two examples above, the employees were fired, and fairly so, because both companies had clear policies in place.”

Whether you embrace or prohibit social media it is important to recognise that social media is no longer something businesses can continue to ignore.

Hallidays have compiled a checklist for writing your own social media policy which you can read here.