Home About Our Blog Facebook friends or career liability?

There have been many stories about employees, calling in sick for the day, then posting photos of themselves enjoying time outside,  on social media, forgetting exactly who can see that. The event is passed on to the business and the employee can find themselves in a difficult situation trying to explain.

 

In Facebook, review your privacy settings to see all the options available to you. For example you can use the activity log to see every time someone tags you. Facebooks Privacy Basics website is also a great place to learn more about how you can monitor and manage your exposure on Facebook.

 

So should you add your colleagues to Facebook?  There is no right or wrong answer, but like with many things in life, use common sense and once you make your decision remember it, and exactly who will be seeing that post!

 

Think strategically about whether you want certain people to be privileged to your private life, thoughts and background. What people can see visually about you, could have long reaching effects and in the end be quite destructive towards your future goals. It is not often that our professional lives and personal lives should really mix in a public forum.

 

 

Additionally once on the internet, your content is there forever and can always be unearthed at a time that is most inconvenient for you! Think about keeping your professional networks on a professional networking platform such as LinkedIn and your social networks on your social platform.

 

There have been a few interesting cases we should take into account in regards to how to behave on social media. One employee lost his claim, after being dismissed due to the threatening nature of his comments about a fellow worker. He did not even mention the company he worked for by name, but the court ruled that the visibility of his comments to friends and colleagues who all knew where he worked was as good as mentioning the business by name. The business had in place policies advising that offensive and threatening language would not be tolerated and Fair Work Australia upheld the action of dismissing the employee.

 

Conversely, cases where employees claim unfair dismissal from businesses who do not have clear guidelines, where employee comments are not threatening and colleagues are not friends on Facebook have been upheld by Fair Work Australia. Dismissal of workers who have made comments about work, publically and then been dismissed,  have won unfair dismissal claims.

 

Of course each case is judged on its own merit, but highlights how employee’s use of social media, even when outside of work hours and not mentioning names, can still be a highly dangerous activity.

 

Employees need to be aware that posting comment about their workplace on social media can lead to disciplinary action or dismissal.

 

 

Important Note: These articles have been prepared for general circulation and are circulated for general informational purposes only; these articles should not be regarded as business or investment advice. The articles represent the views of the writers and are subject to change without notice. Additionally, while every care has been taken in the preparation of the articles no representation or warranty as to accuracy or completeness of any statement is given. An individual or organisation should, before any business or investment decision is made, consider the appropriateness of the information in this document, and seek professional advice, having regard to objectives, situation and needs. This document is solely for the use of the party to whom it is provided.

Hey, great blog you
Posted by: Cherlin, on 23/07/2016 4:04:51 PM

Hey, great blog you have here, think I came across it on Yahoo but im not sure nonawyway, Ill check back again! Are guests allowed to post here?