American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa Labour and Skills - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa

Labour and Skills Development Forum

7 April 2016

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE WORKPLACE, EMPLOYER REMEDIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES

• Social media as a social medium can be used to say almost anything. It

empowers the writer/speaker as he now has an audience, some of whom are unknown to him.

• The process encourages immediate debate/conversations and publicly.

Therefore the parties express opinions on a wide range of subjects during the exchanges.

• Many people regard themselves as having expertise on specified issues and

express those opinions 'impulsively' on social media platforms.

• From an employer perspective and because of the linkage with employees,

the use of social media creates potential risks which can lead to the

• pinions of employees being associated with the employer. This can cause

reputational damage and on occasions lead to refusals to have business dealings with the employer and the cancellation of contracts. In addition, the published thoughts of the employee may be repugnant to employees and can lead to disputes. Indicating support for racism is the obvious example.

• Freedom of expression is a constitutional right but is a limited right. It is

subject to strong exceptions such as hate speech. This is often not understood.

• Employers have tended to assume that opinions expressed on social

media platforms are personal. Whether they are personal or not can be

• irrelevant. Consider recent disputes referred to by the media.
• Almost without exception, people make assumptions about other groups in

varying degrees. When those assumptions are embraced as opinions on a social media platform they can become very dangerous.

• The Italian writer, Umberto Eco, in his latest book 'Numero Zero' (not

about Zuma but Mussolini) deals with assumptions made by readers of the media and gives a clear example.

“I know it's commonly said that if a labourer attacks a fellow worker, then the newspapers say where he comes from if he's a Southerner but not if he comes from the North...... But imagine a page on which a labourer from Cuneo etc......, a pensioner from Mestre kills his wife, a newsagent from Bolognia commits suicide etc. ..... What interest is that to readers in the areas where these people were born? Whereas if we're talking about a labourer from Calabria, a pensioner from Matera, a newsagent from Foggia and a builder from Palermo, then it creates concern about criminals coming up from the South and this makes news.....” (1) (My underlining).

(1) Pp 46 – 47.

• Until recently many employers have not seen the direct connection

between the use of social media platforms and the impact on the

• workplace. This issue must be addressed.
• Employers have also delayed regulating the use of social media because

this was seen as limiting personal expression and they did not understand that it could constitute public expression and therefore contains inherent dangers.

• By way of example many employers do not regulate whether employees

can identify themselves as being the employees of named employers when using social media.

• Social media must be regulated by employers to the extent that

employees make statements or issue opinions which impact on employers and their policies.

• Another factor is that social media has become an observation and

reporting point. The new Racism and Racial Discrimination Bill (to be published) will lead to this issue being highlighted further. There will be

• prosecutions. Consider the National Action Plan to combat racism etc.,

October 2015.

• At the national level we live in a highly polarized society. Racism

remains a sensitive issue. There is intense anger about perceived national mismanagement and the issue of corruption. Citizens are frustrated and hence vent strong feelings. Some of the emotions expressed reflect prejudices, whether articulated or unarticulated. (Example refer to).

• There is another problem. Most employees in the broader context have

not been trained on the use of social media. This requires immediate attention.

• While the employer has remedies such as counselling, warnings and

dismissals, and if necessary court applications, the statements may cause reputational damage. The damage is done. It is hence critically important to protect the employer by implementing social media policies without delay.

• Where an employee uses a social media platform this can mean that he

links assumptions, bias, prejudice, publication,

• pinions,

false information, conditions of employment, policies, corporate reputation, discipline, damages claims and legal proceedings.

Rod Harper

• ESSENTIALS FOR PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS:
• A Social Media Strategy
• A Social Media Policy
• Enforcement
• Social Media Education, Awareness and Training

• A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
• What is a social media strategy
• A business strategy for dealing with negative social media

events

• Why is it important
• Management of risk
• Prevents a “knee-jerk” reaction

• SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
• Objectives
• Practical, reasonable and enforceable guidelines
• Help employees make good choices
• Awareness of consequences of non-compliance

• Distinguish between the different types of social media use:
• Professional social media use
• Personal social media use using the employer’s property and/or

infrastructure

• Personal social media use using the private property and

infrastructure – “off-duty” social media use

• Clear guidelines
• Understanding the communal and real-time nature of social media

and its longevity

• Impact of being associated with certain content – professional and

personal

• Implications of social media interactions for the employer and

employee

• Clear Rules
• First person
• Caution against certain content
• Non-disclosure
• Third-party consent
• Honesty
• Respect
• Personal responsibility
• Heated- discussions
• Unease
• Inflammatory topics

• Privacy, Confidentiality and Security
• Right to privacy
• Respecting the privacy of colleagues, customers and the company
• Social media platforms - by its nature are public even if social media

accounts are private

• Protect confidential information of all employees, customers and the

company

• Taking to social media to air out internal matters and grievances is

an offence

• Protection of information that can compromise the safety & security
• f the company, it’s employees and customers

• Monitoring Social Media Use
• Clarity that social media use can be monitored by the Company to

the extent permitted by law

• Rights to restrict or prevent access to social media sites during

working hours and/or using company infrastructure

• Misuse of social media can amount to a criminal offence
• Company’s rights when abuse of social media is discovered

• Consequences of Breach
• Disciplinary action
• Criminal liability
• Who owns social media content and the social media followers?
• Where social media sites are used to promote company business,

clarity must be provided in terms of;

• Who owns the site
• Who owns the followers

• ENFORCEMENT
• New employees – place provision in contracts of employment
• Existing employees – separate undertaking/addendum must be

signed

• Speak to other policies
• Code of conduct
• Disciplinary code
• IT policies
• Grievance policy
• Harassment policy
• Equality policies

• SOCIAL MEDIA EDUCATION, AWARENESS & TRAINING
• A good policy is of no use if employees do not understand the

policy, its consequences and how it operates

• Employees must be aware and understand the consequences of

non-compliance in order to be held accountable

• Embark on an awareness campaign – should be rolled out at the

time the social media policy is introduced

• Provide training on the social media policy – it will support the

company in the event of disciplinary action

• The topic should be an ongoing subject for awareness and

education

Shahnaaz Bismilla

Thank You

Rod Harper & Shahnaaz Bismilla 7 April 2016 Employment Law Department