Over the past few years, the use of social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Bebo and most popular of all, Facebook, has become phenomenal. Founded in 2004, Facebook has over 500 million active users, 50% of which log on to the site on any given day. And, before you dismiss this as a problem, may I remind you that the average Facebook user is in their mid-thirties, this isn't a phenomenon related to teenagers! 

Many employers consider social networking sites to be a constant headache. Recently, a number of employees (and ex-employees!) are using such sites as a forum to air grievances about their employer. A recent survey by YouGov shows that more than 1 in 10 people under the age of 35 have made a derogatory comment about their boss on Facebook. Many employers are also concerned about possible leaks of their confidential information to their employee's "friends". Up for debate with many businesses, is whether or not to allow access to these sites during the working day.

Where employees have unrestricted access, some abuse the system and spend large portions of their working day updating and perusing such sites. Research has shown that on average an employee will spend 30 minutes of their working day on social networking sites. In a workforce of 20 people, this will equate to at least 10 hours lost work per day and 50 hours lost work per week. It is understandable that many employers have decided to ban these sites all together, whilst others allow restricted access during lunch breaks and out of working hours. Derogatory, offensive or inappropriate comments may be posted on these sites, even where employers do not allow access during the working day. Employers have little control over the comments until after the event, when their reputation may have already suffered. Such comments are not private; they can be copied, distributed and accessed by anyone including clients, investors and competitors. If you opt to allow employees access, you need to be very clear on what is acceptable use and ensure your employees are fully aware of any policy in place.

You may wish to have a separate social media policy or you can incorporate the policy into an existing email, internet or computer usage policy. The policy should also allow you to take disciplinary action against employees who abuse or breach the policy. This can include where the employee posting something onto a site that may damage your reputation, breach confidentiality, risk destroying the relationship of trust and confidence between you and your employee or which includes derogatory comments regarding co-workers, clients or others. This can extend to comments posted outside the employee's hours of work. Tackling this issue head-on and having a well drafted policy in place may discourage misuse in the first place.

Any policy introduced must be actively communicated to staff, reinforced and publicised at regular intervals. You may wish to consider asking your employees to sign the policy to confirm they are aware of it. If you wish to be able to monitor and record internet usage, this should be included within the policy so your employees are aware that this may happen. It should be made clear to employees that if a breach of the policy occurs, such misconduct may result in disciplinary action.

A minor first time breach of the policy, for example, by using the sites within the restricted period, would not normally result in a dismissal - you should follow your disciplinary procedure. More serious breaches can constitute gross misconduct, which may give you the right to dismiss your employee. When introducing or updating the internet policy, your disciplinary policy should also be updated to reflect the changes. stevensdrake can help you formulate or update social media or other computer use policies.

We can also provide advice if you are considering disciplining a member of staff for breach of policy. Please contact a member of our Employment team for more details. Published - January 2012This article is provided for general information only. Please do not make any decision on the basis of this article alone without taking specific advice from us. 

stevensdrake will only be responsible for the advice we give which is specific to you.