Do you know what your employees are saying about you on Facebook? If it’s negative, do you have any legal standing? Here’s what we know so far.
Your employees may be talking about your business, your customers, their co-workers, or you on their Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or other social networking page. Most employers have considered whether or not to prohibit access to such sites during the workday. However, many employees can access sites through their cell phones and, of course, before and after work.
As I log onto my Facebook account to do some research for this article, I see posts from my “friends” which state things like “1 hour and 45 min. left of work then I’m on my way to Opening Day!!!!” and “I haven’t done one productive thing today.” These comments are mild compared to those that have come to the attention of some employers which include discriminatory references to other employees and angry outbursts regarding dislike for supervisors and management. Further, many of these comments were made during the work day. As importantly, several recent studies have made clear what we all know; employees
who access these sites during working hours have a measurable decline in productivity.