Here is an example of how sharing information in a "casual manner" can impact other assessments of an employee's performance. 

Consider having an employee on either Linked In or Facebook where you as a manager are "highly recommending" this person as a "strong professional" in the field. A few months later, performance slacks and the person ends up being terminated.  Is  this information from the social networking sites pertinent and potentially used as part of the employee's defense?  You bet!  Even if the employee had poor performance reviews since the information was posted on the social network sites, it can be pulled up as a attempting to support a wrongful termination and the employee can make a case for some unlawful reason for termination based on previous comments about his/her performance.

 

 Becoming "friends" on such sites can quickly "blur" the lines of proper working relationships, due to the casual nature of comments, the chance of "crossing the lines" becomes much greater.  This is not only among management and employees but also among co-workers. As a result, such instances can quicly become issues for litigation.  There is a tremendous amount of personal information on such sites.  In the event of some adverse employment decision such knowledge of information could make for perceptions that the employment related decision toward an employee at work could be tied to one's personal lives described on social sites.  The more you know about an employee's personal life, the more vulnerable you are to being accused of using information against an employee that would be otherwise be "lawful off premises conduct" .

 

Minimally, if supervisors do have access to employee social network sites, they must be trained on obligations related to reporting and investigating issues said by employees on such sites that affect their work environment and could be workplace harassment and/or discrimination.  If there is knowlege about something that could be perceived as harassment/discrimination and a supervisor had access to the information, this could be a liability to the organization.

 

Best practice....Do NOT become "friends" with your staff!

 

 

Blogging is another area that should be included in such a policy to ensure that confidential information about your business/organization is NOT disclosed including logos and trademarks.  Such policies should consider stating that employees are not to speak for their employer on such sites.

 

Consider monitoring what employees are doing on your time!  Occasionally monitoring emails and internet sites visited, could be worth your time. Be sure you state your stance on proper use of organization/business property/computers and that you prohibit use of the computer for personal use specifically identifying use of personal emails, social networking sites and internet surfing. This is particularly important because if the employee is visiting such sites on work time and work computers (company property), it becomes a possible business liability even if sent from personal email accounts should their be any connection with inappropriate material, copyrighting/stealing etc.  Further, it is time being taken away from work time.

 

As with all policy writing, seek legal counsel to ensure your written documents are appropriate and legally sound.