IT and Social Media Policies

Social media has provided many exciting and innovative ways for businesses to grow, and participating in social media can be a good way to expand and elevate a company’s business presence. But it has also created challenges in an employment context. 

Legal liabilities can arise from the use of social media by employees, whether for business or private purposes. Also, for some employers, their lack of social media understanding means that they are not equipped to manage its use by staff and volunteers.

The first line of defence, and point of reference for any organisation, should be a social media policy that instructs and guides employees on how to use social media in a work context. The policy should set out the standards expected from employees when using social media, and gives social media guidelines for them on acceptable behaviour. It also sets out the possible consequences that might be faced by an employee who breaches the policy.

While it is clearly a business necessity that employees are able to access an organisation’s IT resources and communications systems, it should be borne in mind that improper or inappropriate use of such systems can cause significant problems for an employer. For example:

• Increased potential for unauthorised disclosure of confidential information
• Reputational damage from inappropriate emails
• Infringement of third-party intellectual property rights
• Harassment and cyber-bullying, and
• Time-wasting and loss of productivity

An IT resources and communications systems policy may help you to reduce these risks. The IT policy addresses the key issues which arise from employee use of IT resources and communications systems, and again sets out the possible consequences of breaching the policy.