Avoiding social media eruptions

The surge in use of social and business networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook is starting to cause serious management and HR problems because of the clash between privacy and free speech with business objectives and reputations.

One of the first tribunal cases made headlines in January 2012 when John Flexman challenged his sacking for having ticked the “interested in career opportunities” on his LinkedIn profile.  

How can we encourage constructive use of new communication methods by employees, while avoiding employment law and HR battles if they misuse it?  

Many organisations have their own Facebook pages, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts and blogs and invite employees to upload comments, tweets and articles to promote a lively exchange of ideas. This can engage the workforce and customers and promote the business. Individual staff are often encouraged to sign up to LinkedIn and other professional networking sites to reach out to potential recruits and clients. But employees' haphazard use of new media can create serious problems for managers. Employees’ posts can undermine the organisation’s reputation or the individual employment relationship. Some posts amount to bullying and harassment.  

This 90 minute briefing, aimed at HR professionals, Senior Managers, Board members and business owners, will summarise the positive and negative impact of new media, and tell you what your organisation needs to do now to regulate employees' use of social media and email - without creating legal risks for the business.  

Breakfast and networking opportunities will be available 30 minutes before the advertised start times for the session.

Certificates of Attendance (for CPD purposes) can be issued to delegates on the day, if required. Please let us know that you need a certificate on arrival and we will arrange for it to be issued at the end of the session.