5 Best Practices For Employers Addressing Social Media Use In The Workplace

For the second year in a row, Proskauer has conducted a global survey, "Social Media in the Workplace Around the World 2.0", which addresses the use of social media in the work place. In 2012, Proskauer surveyed multinational businesses in 19 different countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong-Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States) in order to provide a worldwide perspective of workplace use of social media. This survey not only shed light on notable developments in the use of social media in the workplace, but also helped identify consistent traits.

Despite legal and cultural differences, the survey revealed a surprising degree of commonality across jurisdictions as to best practices utilized by employers with respect to social media in the workplace. The 5 overarching best practices for companies are identified below.

Best Practice 1: Implement a policy dedicated to social media.

Employers should implement a policy dedicated to social media use that clearly sets out acceptable and unacceptable usage inside and outside the workplace as well as after employment comes to an end. The policy should comply with and be implemented in accordance with local requirements, including privacy laws.

The use of social media may have a detrimental impact upon a company. If an employee discloses confidential information via social media it could be particularly difficult for employers to identify the individuals who have had access to that information. Unlike emails where the list of recipients can usually be determined, the breadth of an employee's social media post depends on the confidentiality settings of that employee's social media account.

Without clear policies, it can be difficult to lawfully sanction employees for misuse of social media. In Spain, the High Court of Justice of Madrid accepted offensive statements posted on Facebook by an employee as evidence towards the appropriateness of the employer's disciplinary action. The High Court found the dismissal of the employee to be fair because the company's code of conduct explicitly permitted disciplinary measures for offensive or defamatory remarks made by employees against the company (High Court of Justice of Madrid May 25, 2011).

Best Practice 2: If monitoring is implemented, be respectful of local requirements.

Employers who choose to monitor their...