Social Media, the Workplace and HR (The Good, The Bad....)

In our offline life, we tend to compartmentalise our relationships and often present different aspects of our personality to different individuals and groups.  We create a sort of Venn diagram of relationships and interactions.  We often talk about different things, in different language, to our parents or friends, for example.  Yet Facebook and other social media do not differentiate relationships (everybody’s a “friend”).

So do we simply design a one size fits all persona that everyone can see without getting upset or shocked?  Or do we just “be ourselves”, and people will just have to take us as we are.  The problem with the first option is that it does not allow us to communicate with people the way we normally do.    The problem with the second option is that great aunt Celia may not want to know that we were out on the razz last night and now have a hangover and who is that person in the bathroom.  And let’s not even think about drunken posting...

All very interesting, maybe, but what does this have to do with HR?  I recently came across a company where an employee had made some off the cuff comments on Facebook about what was happening at work.  Unfortunately the employee had a member of the management team as a “friend”.    Problems arose.   Investigations took place.   Hearings, warnings/dismissals, appeals, appeals upheld.  Not too conducive to good employee relations.

So how can HR help employees?   We are very busy exploring the use of social media in employee engagement, recruitment etc, but maybe we should also try to help employees avoid the risks to themselves and the company that can arise.

First of all – managers.   Managers are usually aware of the risk of friendships outside of the work environment, but my experience is that they are sometimes not as careful when it comes to social media.    While it is often easier to say yes to a friend request than have a potentially awkward conversation, managers need to give serious consideration to this.    Comments made on social media could easily be misinterpreted later.

While it would be draconian to say to staff that you can’t be friends on social media with other staff or management, or you can’t  comment about the company, it might well be worth having something in the staff handbook about social media, possibly linked to email policy.   It should, I think, be short and cautionary, rather than appearing authoritarian and threatening.  After all, we are talking about something that staff are doing in their own time and they may resent the company “prying” into their personal lives.   Perhaps something along the lines that Facebook/social media comments, especially negative ones, about the company or its employees may leak out, creating problems for the company and the individuals concerned.

I am always saying to managers (to the point of tedium, no doubt) that you shouldn’t write anything in an email that you wouldn’t be comfortable with seeing pinned up on the staff noticeboard.  Given the number of emails being used in court cases and tribunals, this advice seems as pertinent as ever, both for e-mail and social media.

I was prompted to write this after involvement with the case above, where it seemed to me that the company perhaps overreacted.  Whilst we all need to be aware of comments that might be discriminatory, bullying or harassment, for comments that aren’t, there is another way - while you try to ensure your managers’ discretion when using social media, simply treat negative comments from staff as feedback, viewing them as perhaps slightly more honest opinions about the company than people are prepared to say to your face.  Let’s face it, staff will always complain – it’s when they stop complaining that you have something to worry about.  And finally – don’t shoot the messenger, they may just have had a bad day.  And we all know how that feels.