Social m
edia has been a huge advantage for corporate communications, empowering employees to become brand ambassadors for their companies. However, it also creates a challenge when an employee posts negative comments about the company or a fellow employee.
According to policies developed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an employee can post what they want about their workplace outside of working hours; they cannot do so while on the clock or during company time (or on company media).
Part of a corporation’s obligation using social media is to recognize what falls in its jurisdiction versus an employee’s freedom of speech. Organizations should use lessons learned from companies that get it right to develop their own guidelines.
Corporate Communications Officers need to clearly understand the changing communications landscape when crafting employee policies. As social media continues to grow, both in number of users and platforms, corporate policies must evolve in order to protect their brands.