“More than two fifths (41%) of UK companies are using social networking sites to win new business.” (Regus)

How do you optimise the use of social media in your Company?

Below are some of the ways you could use social media in the workplace:

Online Marketing

Many businesses now use social media as a way of introducing themselves to potential clients as well as reminding existing clients of their presence.
The use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are free and by creating your own  Company page you can post updates, news items, competitions or special offers.

Recruiting

LinkedIn is fast becoming a popular place for  people to network. Companies can use the site to meet new clients or identify potential candidates when recruiting.
Does your business have a LinkedIn page? If not, here are some good reasons to create one:

• Develop and expand a network of  professionals
• Actively search for candidates among LinkedIn members by searching keywords
• Develop a complete, keyword-rich profile for your company
• Prospective employees, who are looking for  employers, search LinkedIn by keywords too
• Ask your current employees to activate their  networks to reach out to potential candidates for jobs.
• Employee referrals are valued because most employees will only refer to you, people with whom they want to work
• Search for potential employees by past or current employer who may have employed people with the skills and experience you seek for your company
• Post jobs—the price will vary depending on the geographical location of the job
• Receive free job alert emails targeted to your  industry

Twitter

Twitter is a good way of increasing Company exposure and communicating with those who ‘follow’ the  organisation. You could use Twitter as a platform to  advertise jobs, Company news etc.

Yammer

Yammer is a social media site which caters towards  companies rather than individuals. It can be used for communication within organizations, and also with  customers, partners and suppliers.

Facebook

As far as I can tell there is nothing to stop you from  posting jobs on Facebook for free via your Company  profile page. You can either write a bit about the job and  ask interested applicants to contact you via phone or email or you could upload a link to the job description and application pack which, when clicked on, will take them straight to your website. Obviously in order for  people to see this you will need to build up a community of followers which you can do by asking your friends,  colleagues and clients to like your page.

Social media—what to be aware of:

References and background checks

At present employers may do a Google search on a  candidate prior to interview, which personally I have no problem with. However, whilst it is in no way illegal to look at someone‘s Facebook page or Twitter profile, you should perhaps be mindful of how far you go. I would certainly object to a potential employer asking me to log into my Facebook account during an interview so they can view my profile. This is not because I have anything to hide but because I see it as an  invasion of my privacy. Whilst few employers do this, I have read reports of it happening.

Social media policies

It is important to make sure you have a Social Media policy in place so that employees know the rules with regards to what they can and cannot say on such sites.

Warren Wayne (Bird & Bird LLP) makes a relevant point:
R13;with the modern Blackberry culture, it can be difficult for employees to make a firm distinction between their own time and their work time and this often leads to a blurring of lines around how to use their personal PC‘s and work PC‘s…R14;
By providing employees with guidelines everyone knows where they stand.
Below are some useful points to include in your  company policy:

• You are representatives of (insert company name) outside of office hours, please remember this in your actions and avoid behaviour that could discredit the company
• Show respect for your colleagues and customers, do not make abusive or derogatory comments about co-workers or management

Do not discuss internal policies, processes or  disclose any client/company information LinkedIn—whose connections are they?

With social media sites such as LinkedIn being  increasingly used in business, the inevitable question arises who do my contacts belong too?‘
For the first time, a court in England has issued an  order that requires an employee who resigned to start his own consulting business to turn over all of his LinkedIn contacts to his former employer – along with receipts and contracts proving that none of them  became clients of his new firm.

This clarifies that in the U.K. the contacts on your LinkedIn profile are more likely to belong to your  employer than they are to you if those contacts are customers, employees, or vendors you did business with in your job.

However, in another case across the pond, involving a head hunter who went out on her own only to be sued by her former employer for approaching candidates and clients who were her LinkedIn contacts — and also part of his database.  The Eastern District Court of New York state took the opposite stance from the UK court,  ruling in Sasqua Group, Inc. v. Courtney that the  availability of information in social media invalidated the company‘s argument that the information was a trade secret.

Non-solicitation Agreements

It is important to remind employees of the correct  procedure to follow when requesting and writing  references. It is advisable to create a policy outing the guidelines so that all staff are aware of what to do. Generally all references should be written via HR or should follow a set framework to ensure that all  references are fair and consistent. A policy also  reminds staff that, should they receive a reference  request from a ex-colleague on a social media site such as LinkedIn, they should refer the person back to the company rather than writing the reference themselves. This protects the company from any complaints being made with regards to references.

Case Example

In the case of Teggart v TeleTech UK Ltd an industrial tribunal found that Mr Teggart was fairly  dismissed after posting offensive comments regarding another employee on his Facebook page.

Mr Teggart worked for TeleTech UK Ltd. Mr Teggart’s friends on his Facebook profile included some work colleagues. While on his computer at home, Mr Teggart posted an explicit message on his Facebook page about a female employee at TeleTech.
At an investigatory meeting, Mr Teggart, who accepted he was the author of the comments on  Facebook, was suspended. Mr Teggart was invited to a disciplinary hearing to take place a few days later.
The company dismissed Mr Teggart for gross misconduct on the basis that “he [had] made multiple postings on a social media site regarding a fellow employee, one of which made reference to TeleTech”. The company stressed that it considered that Mr Teggart had harassed the female  employee and, in mentioning TeleTech, had brought the company into disrepute.
On appeal, Mr Teggart argued that the company’s code of conduct did not cover action in  employees’ personal life or personal use of the internet. Mr Teggart also argued that TeleTech had violated his human rights, namely the rights to respect for his private life and freedom of  expression, and the right to manifest his beliefs. Mr Teggart’s appeal was unsuccessful and he claimed unfair dismissal.

In relation to the harassment of the female employee, the tribunal found that the disciplinary panel’s conclusion that Mr Teggart had harassed her was reasonable. Mr Teggart’s unwanted  Facebook comments clearly violated her dignity and were capable of creating a degrading and  humiliating environment. The company had evidence that she was upset about these comments and did not want to come into work. The tribunal also found that harassment can be caused through comments made to others and not to the victim of the harassment.

The industrial tribunal concluded that the company had not violated Mr Teggart’s human rights. When he made the comments public on Facebook, he abandoned any right to have his comments treated as private and he could not seek to rely on his rights to respect for his private life.

What to learn from this case

This case shows the importance of having a carefully drafted social media policy in place. Giving employees guidelines about how to use social media and making sure they are aware of the  consequences for not following the rules, will hopefully act as a deterrent for this kind of  behaviour.
If, as above, an employee does break the rules and is taken through the disciplinary procedure, you want to make sure that your policy contains all it needs to in order to stand up in court should you dismiss the employee and find they take action against you.
In such cases, it is certainly worth seeking professional advice to make sure that you are following employment law.

Dear Lisa,
I run an advertising company and my staff have access to the internet which they need to do their jobs. However, I have noticed recently that several members of staff seem to be spending quite a lot of time on Facebook during work hours. I’m not sure of the best way to combat this without restricting their internet access. (Ian, London)

Dear Ian,
Restricting the sites your employees are able to view is one way to tackle this issue but another way would be to introduce a social media policy as mentioned on page two. Stipulate in the policy guidelines that employees may only use Facebook for work related projects or on their lunch break, then make sure that all employees are aware of the rules and that the rules are enforced.
If an employee continues to ignore the rules then advise them that such behavior could lead to disciplinary action.
Lisa

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