Productivity Is Not a ‘Social Media’ Issue

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.

Policies That May Relate to Social Media

You do want a social media policy, says Dibianca [Go here for yesterday’s policy tips.], but realize that there are several policies you probably have already that relate to social media. Often you can deal with social media problems through your existing policies such as:

• Internet/Technology/Acceptable Use
• Confidentiality/Privacy
• Ethics/Conflicts of Interest
• Discrimination/Harassment
• Reference Requests
• Media relations
• Workplace Violence

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Linked-In Problems

LinkedIn can cause problems related to references. For example, DiBianca notes that when managers are asked for a reference on LinkedIn, they tend to give glowing references—much better than they would ever give on a performance appraisal. However, if there is a later suit or complaint, that LinkedIn reference is going to be displayed. For example, if you select that employee for layoff because of poor performance, he or she is going to produce that glowing LinkedIn reference. That’s trouble.

And then there’s the question of non-competes.  When employees leave the company, and then update their status—thus notifying many others of their new position— is that a violation of a non-compete?

It’s unclear, but it is a good idea to remind employees as part of your departure procedures, that if they indicate employment at your company on their social media pages, they should change that.

Internet Reference Checks

You may have a policy against doing Internet reference checks, and may assume that no one is doing them. Think again, says DiBianca, it’s happening. (One recent survey suggested that although only 20 percent of HR managers were doing Internet reference checks, 100 percent of their hiring managers were doing them.)

Don’t ignore this issue, DiBianca says. You should discuss it with your managers so they know the dangers and how to handle them.

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