OMG! My employee said what?!

Employee’s behaving badly on social media is nothing new. Over the last five years, numerous employees have been caught out complaining about their boss, colleagues or working conditions on social media. Many businesses have implemented social media policies to combat this type of behaviour and guide employees using online platforms. However, as employees increasingly link their place of employment to their social media profiles, it opens a new can of worms. Businesses need to be aware that negative comments posted by an employee online can result in unwanted media attention and it could potentially damage the brand.   

For most individuals, it is common sense to be mindful when writing comments in social media. Unfortunately, there are other individuals (known as ‘trolls’) in the online community who deliberately post inappropriate, offensive, bullying and harassing comments to vulnerable social media users. These comments would never be said face to face and are posted online because such individuals can anonymously hide behind their computer screens. However, when an employee has the name of the business they work for mentioned in their social media profile, suddenly they are not so anonymous.

An example of this exact situation occurred over the past week when Monash University’s name was dragged into the Australian media after one of its employee’s negative comments was retweeted on Twitter by celebrity Charlotte Dawson. As the negative comment (unrelated to Monash University) was picked up by Ms Dawson, it quickly made news headlines. The employee listed Monash University as its employer on their Twitter profile and consequently the organisation was linked to the article.

This kind of scenario and behaviour by employees cannot be ignored by businesses. Regardless of whether comments are posted on social media outside of business hours or on a personal laptop, employees who list the name of their employer on their social media profiles are representing the brand. Therefore, it is imperative that they conduct themselves on social media just as they would in real life. Otherwise your business may suffer the consequences.

What do you think about this issue? How can businesses prevent and manage this type of scenario?