D: Social Media Policy
Category: NachrichtenBy: R. Olschewski - 2B Advice GmbH - the privacy benchmark
Facebook, XING, Wer-kennt-wen, Yahoo, StudiVz, LinkedIn, Localisten - employees are present in a multitude of social networks. It is often unclear whether pictures of excessive company parties, of posing colleagues and superiors or the workplace, may be recorded. Moreover, the use of company e-mail addresses, or registering and monitoring during the working hours, require a policy.
An additional social media topic is the uploading of addresses and contacts. Once in a while a colleague thereby makes his or her entire network available (including business partner data and customer data), and thereby publishes company networks and know-how that have often been developed over many years.
Moreover, in closed forums, the company is sometimes bad-mouthed by colleagues and superiors, and the limits on workplace bullying are sometimes fluid. In this regard, freedom of opinion and the employees' duty of good faith under employment agreements are in a particular relationship of conflict.
Specialized forums invite disbursing company knowledge, publishing the corporate strategy and losing competitive advantages.
Together, all of this can facilitate critical press reporting, since resourceful journalists naturally know where information is to be found in the public networks. Moreover, conducting lawsuits (for example, labor suits or damages suits) is made more difficult, because attorneys also know where they have to search.
Here, a social media policy can offer an orientation for employees and management. An example of a policy can be - no company e-mail addresses in the community. Placing networks and using these only outside of working hours. If it is a matter of open source communities for program developers or appropriate XING forums for sales employees or upon an appropriate context, participation is in the interest of the employer and is allowed.
For companies, the presence of the employees in networks should receive the necessary attention in any event. Here, strict prohibitions are not mandatory. However, an awareness of data protection laws and risk and media expertise should be understood as components of the fiduciary duties of the employer and a responsible compliance policy.
Together with management and (if applicable) representatives of personnel, qualified advisers thereby identify the individual needs and risks of the company, and develop an appropriate social media policy and assist with the internal communication of this policy. Moreover, random inspection of compliance and moderate enforcement may be put into practice by external parties. Through neutral communication, they also help to elevate the understanding of the parties concerned.
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