There is some confusion about personal employee blogs
and employee commenting in forums or social networks, because an employee may
expose confidential information, talk negatively of other employees or of the
company. Blogs are a great way to spread information to employees, clients and
customers very quick. They can also be an effective way to communicate with
your employees. But there may be some concerns about how to handle blogging by
your employees on the company blog or the employee's personal blog. As the phenomenon of blogosphere continues to grow it
is not surprising that many companies are looking for ways to address employee
blogging issues.
There is some hesitation about employee blogs because
an employee may disclose confidential business information, talk negatively of
other employees or of the company and display an interest that is in conflict
with your business policies. Richards & Kosmala (2013, p. 72) explain that
even the most loyal employees are also capable of being cynical and making
cynical comments about their employing organisation. There is a thin line
between the company's best interests and violation of your employees' right to
free speech. In order to avoid these concerns, Information Technology security departments
implement general employee blogging policies. Several companies like Cisco, IBM,
Intel, Microsoft, or Yahoo! have developed clear and comprehensive employee
blogging policies.
But, how to handle employee blogging? The confusion starts
when we try to identify the types of blogs. There are basically three types of
employee blogs. The first is a blog written by employees intended for other
employees. This type of blog you would find on a secure company network that
only employees could access. Another type of blog will be when the blog is
intended for external audiences. This type of blog would be posted on a company
website being accessible to the general public. The last type of blog you have
to consider is an employee's personal blog. This blog is the one that leads to
more problems to deal with, because your employees can write anything they want
being this hard to control. Information Technology Security Departments set up
policies that will prevent confidential information of the business from being
blogged by employees. The blogging policy should cover all types of blogs that
an employee may write.
Even if a company may not think that they a need to have
a blogging policy, it is in best interest to have a policy in place for the
business. Actually, companies need blogging policies regarding both; company
blogs and what employees do outside the job. Companies could be threatened for
things their employees say, or their employees make, even without the company's
authorisation or knowledge.
There were several cases at major companies of
employees that were fired for blogging.
·
Ellen Simonetti, known as "Queen of Sky,"
was a flight attendant for Delta airlines. She was fired for posting on her
blog "inappropriate pictures in uniform on the Web."
·
A Microsoft contractor, Michael Hanscom, was fired
after he had taken pictures of Apple G5 computers being unloaded onto the
software company's campus and posted them to his blog.
·
Mark Jen, after working at Google for 11 days, was fired.
He started a blog on his first day about working at Google.
In all these cases the employees were terminated
because of content in their personal blogs. Employees should be permitted to
maintain personal blogs on their own time, but they should be clear on what
their employer’s blogging policy is.
Several companies like Cisco, IBM, Intel, Microsoft,
or Yahoo! have developed clear and comprehensive employee blogging policies. By
reading them they all agree in these 10 points.
1. Remind employees to familiarise themselves
with the employment agreement and policies included in the employee handbook
before they begin blogging.
2. State that
the policy applies to both blogs for the company and personal blogs.
3. Blog posts
should not disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to the
company or to any third party that has disclosed information to the company.
4. If an
employee comments on any aspect of the company's business they must clearly
identify themselves as an employee in the blog posting and include a
disclaimer.
5. The
disclaimer should be something like "the views expressed on this post are
mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of (the company name).
6. Blog posts
should not include company logos or trademarks.
7. Blog posts
must respect copyright, privacy, fair use, financial disclosure, and other
applicable laws.
8. Employees
should neither claim nor imply that they are speaking on the company's behalf.
9. Corporate
blogs (located on your company website) require approval when the employee is
blogging about the company and the industry.
10. That the
company reserves the right to request the certain subjects are avoided,
withdraw certain posts and remove inappropriate comments.
But, how to implement the new policy? The lesson to
learn from the examples of employee firings and how some companies have chosen
to address employee blogging is to make the policy as clear as possible. Employees
can also do damage to companies reputations and client relationships that
should be prohibited by such policies. The best formats for this policy is to
first state the policy and follow with a breakout of the key points. For
example Microsoft's policy includes a frequently asked questions section that
further clarifies the policy for employees, offering guidelines or blogging
best practices.
Once the blogging policy has been finalised it is
important to let your employees know there has been a change to the employee
agreement that each employee signed when they were hired. An e-mail or memo
should be sent to all employees including a copy of the new policy and/or a
link to where they can reference the policy. With all this, is in employee’s
hands and ethics what to blog and what not to blog, considering the policies of
the company and the freedom of speech. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
states that "Rights dominate most modern understandings of what actions
are proper and which institutions are just. Rights structure the forms of our
governments, the contents of our laws, and the shape of morality as we perceive
it. To accept a set of rights is to approve a distribution of freedom and authority,
and so to endorse a certain view of what may, must, and must not be done."
Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., 2013 ‘In the end, you
can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work
blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77.
"Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy".
Stanford University. July 9, 2007.
Perspective:
I was fired for blogging <http://news.cnet.com/I-was-fired-for-blogging/2010-1030_3-5490836.html>
Blogger
dismissed from Microsoft <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3341689/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/blogger-dismissedfrom-microsoft/>
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