Social Media Affecting (Infecting?) HR in Many Ways

DiBianca, who is with Young, Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP in Wilmington, Delaware, offered her tips at the BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Las Vegas.

Scope: Who

First, determine which employees the policy will apply to:

• Does the policy apply to all employees?
• Are all held to the same standard? You can set higher standards for different types of employee, says DiBianca, for example you might want higher or more specific standards for:

• Those with access to highly confidential information
• Managers and executives
• Public-facing employees
• Human Resources staffers

Scope: What

Clarify what technologies your policy will cover. Make it a non-exclusive list, says DiBianca. New technologies are arriving all the time. You can list specific technologies, but be sure to leave the list open-ended.

Also consider whether your policy cover employer-sponsored sites. Don’t forget to allow for future sites.

Scope: When

The next decision is how and whether to cover working time or and off-work activity.

Working time. How will you address employee restrictions during working time? Do you intend to prohibit social media activity? (Hint: It’s going to occur anyway, DiBianca says.)

Non-working time. It’s important to cover this, says DiBianca, because employees are “stunned” to find out that they could get in trouble for off-work actions.

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Scope: Employee Identification and Endorsements

Is it OK for employees to identify themselves as employees? (The NLRB says that you can’t prohibit employees from self-identifying as employees, because they need to be able to find each other to engage in concerted activity. This is not a law, however, DiBianca says.)

What rules cover endorsements by employees? Your employees should know that there is an “affirmative disclosure” requirement. They have to disclose their relationship (“I am affiliated with” or “I am employed by”) when they endorse company products, or even if they just go online to correct something someone else has said.

Scope: Confidentiality

Identify the categories or types of data that should not be shared online or elsewhere, for example:

• Intellectual property
• Personnel information
• Operational details
• Images.
• Any recording or image taken in the workplace or in, on, or with company property, or at any company-sponsored event
• Company’s images, logos
• Documents

Scope: Prohibited Conduct

List out conduct that is inappropriate, for example:

• Harassment
• Illegal activities
• Threats or threatening
• Disparaging or defamatory
• Discriminatory

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Scope: Other considerations

Consider adding the following:

• Contact person. Who will answer questions?
• Duty to inquire. Employees must inquire about appropriateness before they act.
• Duty to report. Employees have a duty to report policy-violating activity.
• Duty to cooperate. Employees have a duty to cooperate in any investigation.
• Privacy. Describe situations in which employees have no expectation of privacy, and where monitoring may occur.
• Approved channels. Company business must be conducted through approved channels only.

In tomorrow’s Advisor, more from DiBianca on social media policies, plus an introduction to the special guide just for smaller—or even one-person—HR departments.

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