Social networking is becoming an increasingly problematic issue for Irish employers. Common problems encountered by employers include employees spending too long on social networking sites, employees using such sites for workplace bullying purposes, and employees using such sites to bad-mouth their employers. Indeed, a survey conducted by Peninsula earlier this year showed that 67% of Irish employees admitted to checking their social networking sites during working hours while 73% have admitted to bad mouthing their employers on social networking sites. There are also additional concerns for Irish employers including damage to the company’s productivity, poor workplace relations and also the dangers of employees posting sensitive or damaging information online. In this piece we consider the dangers associated with social networking in the workplace and what an employer can do to protect themselves.
How to Protect the Company
It is vitally important that an employer has a detailed policy in their employee handbook which tackles the issue of social networking in respect of the workplace, be it during the employee’s personal time or outside of their working hours. A well thought out Social Networking Policy should also incorporate activities on non-work computers. The policy should also clearly outline what type of behaviour is deemed unacceptable by the company and that a breach of this policy may result in the company’s disciplinary procedures being invoked. In that respect, the disciplinary procedures should clearly note the level of warnings that particular behaviour may attract, up to and including dismissal, and, importantly, what actions in particular may be deemed gross misconduct. Lastly, the policy should also draw reference to the company’s bullying and harassment policy should any employee be subjected to social network workplace bullying.
Social Networking Problems: Bad Mouthing Employers
The issue of employees bad-mouthing employers on social public networks is surprisingly common, as shown in the Peninsula survey mentioned above. This type of conduct is often viewed quite seriously by employers with many looking to dismiss the employee on foot of it. However, as per the above advice, it is crucial that the employer lists this type of conduct as being unacceptable in the employee handbook and what disciplinary sanction it may attract (including dismissal). An important case here is Kiernan -v- A-Wear Limited (UD 643/2007), where the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) heard how an employee had posted profanities and disparaging remarks about their manager on a Bebo page that was linked to the A-Wear official site. The employee was dismissed following a fair disciplinary procedure but the EAT found the dismissal outcome to be disproportionate to the offence and awarded the employee €4000 in compensation. There are a number of reasons why the employee’s claim was successful; the EAT found the dismissal of the employee too harsh as the employee had been working there for a number of years with no prior grievance or disciplinary issues and that this should have been taken into account. A meeting could have been held between the employer and employee to give the employee an opportunity to apologise for the disrespectful comments made and as A-wear had no policy about the use of social networking they left themselves exposed as the employee could easily argue that they were unaware that such behaviour was deemed unacceptable.
However in O’Mahoney -v- PJF Insurances Limited (UD 933/2010), the EAT held that the dismissal of an employee for posting derogatory comments on Facebook in respect of her employer was fair with a key factor being that the employer was specifically named in the offending posts. This case differs from the A-Wear case in that A-Wear were not specifically mentioned in the Bebo post and this, therefore, is an extremely important consideration to be taken into account. Essentially, an employer needs to look at each matter on a case-by-case basis and identify the actual damage to their company’s reputation, were they named in the post and was the post viewable to the public at large.
Social Networking Problems: Workplace Bullying
Most readers will remember the recent announcement from the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn that a school in Dublin was forced to expel four students after they posted abusive remarks about their teachers on Facebook. This is also a common workplace issue and employers need to be aware of the potential impact of social networking in this area, and whilst the concept of social networking encourages interaction amongst colleagues, it can sometimes be used for inappropriate means. Social media has changed the scope of bullying in the workplace as it essentially allows continuous access to a person by an individual and gives them the opportunity to broadcast opinions or comments to an extended group, be it in the form of comments, or by posting pictures on the sites. Employers need to have policies in place to deal with such issues as an employee who potentially resigns due to a social networking bullying issue not being dealt with by their employer, could claim constructive dismissal and claim up to two year’s remuneration. Employers should investigate any complaint of bullying brought to their attention in line with their Bullying and Harassment procedure or, if no procedure exists, in line with the LRC Code of Practice for Addressing Bullying in the Workplace
Social Networking Problems: Lost Productivity
The most common social networking problem is that of employees simply spending too much time on social network sites. This can have a detrimental impact on productivity and can lead to damage to a company’s reputation, such as where a security guard fails to notice an incident due to being distracted by social networking. This matter can be easily targeted through the social networking policy referenced above.
Conclusion: Implementing the Social Networking Policy
In view of the above, it is crucial that an employer takes the following steps when implementing the social networking policy:
- include the Social Networking policy in the employee handbook, ensuring that each employee signs a copy of this handbook;
- notify all employees of the policy in particular and to train the employees on its implementation. Is a certain level of use allowed? If so then how much? What type of behaviour is unacceptable? It might be worth having the employee sign a slip to confirm that they have received specific training on this policy also.
- ensuring to apply the policy, and subsequent disciplinary sanction, consistently and evenly to all employees;
- if an employee breaches the policy then ensure to take swift but reasonable action, taking into account all the surrounding circumstances including length of service, previous disciplinary record, the gravity of the breach etc.
Clients should contact the Peninsula Client Services department on 01 855 4132 if seeking to introduce or amend a Social Networking policy. Clients are also urged to contact the 24 Hour Advice Service, if concerned with employee social networking behaviour, on 01 855 50 50 and one of our experienced advisors will be happy to assist.
