Working in the care industry, employees will have access to sensitive and confidential information. There are now multiple platforms on the internet for employees to post their opinions and make statements regarding topical issues. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are among the most popular and most of your employees will be members of at least one of these. If an employee is posting their personal views on their private social media accounts, can this actually affect you as an employer? Put simply, yes.
What might start off as a “private” post, can easily end up in the public domain. Take the example of a social worker who posted comments on Facebook about a child protection court case, or the more recent example of a photo which was “shared” on Facebook showing the support worker of a learning disability charity smoking and chatting on her mobile phone whilst standing next to an elderly man in a wheelchair with bags piled on his lap. When an employee is seen to have an affiliation with your organisation, posts like these can end up having a damaging effect on your reputation.
A clearly worded social media policy will set out the standards of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in the use of social media inside and outside the workplace. It will also give clear guidelines for employees on what they can and cannot say about the organisation. Importantly, the policy will set out what the ramifications are for employees who do not use social media responsibly.