Jaluch Limited

Last year, in the case of Whitham v Club 24 Ltd, we saw an employee, fed up with childishness at work, who commented on her facebook that she worked ‘in a nursery’ win a claim for unfair dismissal.

Recently we read of the Senior HR Manager dismissed as a result of suggesting on his linkedin profile that he would be interested in job opportunities. He said he will now pursue an unfair dismissal claim.

Many of us will also have received tweets from an employee working for one of our clients or suppliers that include postings such as ‘just goin 4 a Costa’ or ‘what a stupid decision by xyz MP’ so seemingly non work related, but exactly how do you manage an employee who combines on the same account work and personal tweeting and who does both during working time?

And finally, a poll just a month or so ago suggested that job applicants aged under 24 might be inclined to reject any potential employer if they had a social media at work ban. How might this affect you?

So many issues, with so many different complexities for employers to manage. But it’s an area that HR departments and line managers can no longer afford to bury their heads in the sand over. Time to get educated and become a whole lot more savvy about what social media is about and how it can be managed internally.  

As a result, at Jaluch we would advise that you revise either annually, or even six monthly given the pace of change in this area, your social media policy and that you ensure your policy indicates what can and cannot be done, what will and will not be tolerated and what is and is not expected of all staff using social media at work and during working time.

And if you haven’t already booked a place, we’re holding a free breakfast seminar on ‘Social Media Shockers’, feel free to come along!

Also this update:

• Annual leave and sickness absence
• Redundancy and sex discrimination