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Social Networking
Key Points
- Develop a policy on the use of social media at work. This should include what is and what is not acceptable behaviour for the use of the internet, emails, smart phones, blogs and tweets.
- Be careful if you screen potential candidates by looking at their social networking pages - this may be discriminatory.
- Employees should review the privacy settings on their social networking sites.
- Inform and consult with your employees if you are planning to monitor social media activity.
- Update your policies: for example, bullying policies should include references to 'cyber bullying'.
- Be sensitive to work-life balance - the line between work and home is becoming increasingly blurred by the use of modern technology.
Smart phones, internet, tweeting, blogging - we have accepted all of these innovations, and many more, as part of our working lives, helping us to work more flexibly, stay in touch for longer and respond to each other more quickly.
But is it all good news? Some estimates report that misuse of the internet and social media by workers costs Britain's economy billions of pounds every year and add that many employers are already grappling with issues like time theft, defamation, cyber bullying, freedom of speech and the invasion of privacy.
Acas Senior Guidance Editor, Adrian Wakeling, talks about social media in the workplace.
