FYI, in case youve not had it by email Article copied from Long Products Journey paper THINK BEFORE YOU POST Over the last few weeks, five employees from Long Products have been dismissed for breaching their terms and conditions of employment – all of which were the result of posts they’d created on Facebook and/or twitter. HR Director Long Products Paul Martin said: “People make the assumption that Facebook is you post is as good as published, which means anything you say about the workplace or colleagues can be seen by others and could cause offence.” In all of the dismissal cases, the comments or posts had been flagged up to the company. “We don’t ‘police’ social media sites,” said Paul. “We’re not intentionally trying to catch people out but if employees raise concerns then we have a duty of care to investigate them. Offensive comments can be seen as bullying or harassment. Whether they’re made in the canteen, in the pub or on Facebook, it’s simply unacceptable and we do not condone that type of behaviour. Comments of a slanderous nature about the company, or revealing commercially sensitive information, could also lead to action being taken against the individual. It’s important that we protect our employees and the company’s reputation.” Recent cases within Long Products and other high-profile businesses include employees making derogatory comments about their co-workers, customers and even the company’s products – all of which were complained about and led to dismissals. There have also been cases of employees being seen socialising via posts on Facebook while claiming to be too ill to attend work. Fraudulently claiming sick pay is also a dismissible offence. The trade unions are urging employees to think twice before posting any comments about the company or their co-workers. Paul McBean, Scunthorpe site Multi-Union Chairman, said: “Linking social media posts to the company or your colleagues in a negative context could lead to disciplinary procedures. The same goes for sharing confidential information on social media sites.” Access to social media sites is restricted on all work computers and within Long Products it became very apparent that they were not really aware of the consequences of their actions. We have a duty to bring it to people’s attention and we hope to see a decline in such cases in the future,” added Paul. Employees who are concerned about posts they’ve seen on social networking sites can raise the issue with their line manager, HR contact, Union official or call the whistle- blowing hotline. PLEASE TAKE HEED
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 18:32:33 +0000