Social Media Policy questions

[Muffinman74]

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I'm new to this forum and I'm not sure the rights and wrongs!

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I currently work for one of the major TOCs - I'm not saying which one, and I'm sure it will be clear why - and I am an admin for one of the unofficial Facebook groups that exist for employees. This group was created off the back of an announcement that the official page would be closing and moving to Yammer.
As you can imagine, there was a big uproar when nearly 1000 staff members were told their main point of communication and advice was closing and moving to an inefficient and poorly accessed site that no-one was familiar with. As a result, the company decided to postpone the closure indefinitely, however an "unofficial" group was made by some staff members as a contingency should the main group eventually be closed.

The company has now decided to forge ahead with the closure of the main group, but are now also saying that in line with their updated Social Media Policy, any and all social media groups that are work related need to be closed and cannot be allowed to operate.

My question is - is this enforceable, and can admins of the group be disciplined for maintaining the page?

In case of any questions, these points might help:
1)the group does not have a name affiliated with the company - it originally did, but this has been changed
2) posts in the group are screened and subjected to admin approval so that sensitive or confidential information cannot be posted
3) members have been asked not to disparage or effectively offend the employing company in question
4) the group is a private group and applicants have to demonstrate they do work for the TOC in question
5) the group is advertised as a Social group, as opposed to a work group.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks all!

 

[800001]

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I'm new to this forum and I'm not sure the rights and wrongs!

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I currently work for one of the major TOCs - I'm not saying which one, and I'm sure it will be clear why - and I am an admin for one of the unofficial Facebook groups that exist for employees. This group was created off the back of an announcement that the official page would be closing and moving to Yammer.
As you can imagine, there was a big uproar when nearly 1000 staff members were told their main point of communication and advice was closing and moving to an inefficient and poorly accessed site that no-one was familiar with. As a result, the company decided to postpone the closure indefinitely, however an "unofficial" group was made by some staff members as a contingency should the main group eventually be closed.

The company has now decided to forge ahead with the closure of the main group, but are now also saying that in line with their updated Social Media Policy, any and all social media groups that are work related need to be closed and cannot be allowed to operate.

My question is - is this enforceable, and can admins of the group be disciplined for maintaining the page?

In case of any questions, these points might help:
1)the group does not have a name affiliated with the company - it originally did, but this has been changed
2) posts in the group are screened and subjected to admin approval so that sensitive or confidential information cannot be posted
3) members have been asked not to disparage or effectively offend the employing company in question
4) the group is a private group and applicants have to demonstrate they do work for the TOC in question
5) the group is advertised as a Social group, as opposed to a work group.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks all!

Not quite sure what the issue with Yammer/Viva Engage, but it is a very good site, easy to access, very easy to navigate etc, however that is most definitely covered by work social policy as you would access using a work email.

Unofficial Facebook groups, I can’t really see how a company can instruct a group that doesn’t name a company, and they don’t run/manage to close!

 

[Flying Snail]

I can't think of any big company I worked in that didn't have utterly useless managers at running the company but also had (often the same) managers perfectly capable of waging a vendetta against an employee over this sort of nonsense.

If you can be identified as the person running it then I would say it is too big a risk for yourself to keep it running.

 

[thelongestroad]

Ah, Yammer. Everyone's favourite bridge for showing off for that promotion you're after.

 

[skyhigh]

1)the group does not have a name affiliated with the company - it originally did, but this has been changed

I think this could be a sticky point - if they can show that the page was originally set up as an unofficial company group and is still only comprised of employees, that despite the name change it is intended as a company group. If you'd called it something completely unrelated to begin with it would have been harder to prove.

If the group was public and named something like "Unofficial X Employee Group" I'm certain management will be aware who's behind it and what it is now even if it's been changed. They are probably in it.

People have been sacked/disciplined in the past for breaching the social media policy. I'm not sure it's worth risking that for a facebook group.

 

[apinnard]

I’ve known somebody get dismissed from one of the ROSCO’s for breaching their social media policy in a not too dissimilar manner.

I’d personally have nothing to do with it.

 

[ThePeakNed]

Just close the page.

I know exactly which page it is, and from past experience, it has done more harm than good if you ask me.

 

[sir_gummerz]

Read your tocs social media policy for an exact response, it should be freely available to all employees. My companies policy would not allow this and they have taken action against people in the past for actions online.

Theres lots of groups that shouldn't

My take would be that it's not got many positives for you to keep running it. Might be needlessly popping your head up

 

[SunSeeker]

People still use trashbook?

What's wrong with Yammer/Viva? I'm not a 'fan' of it but we use it at our work, it does the job.

As for your group, doesn't matter if it's unofficial, named differently, screened posts, it's still primarily a work group. That means it comes under your company's social media policy.

I know a number of people that have got into trouble for posting stuff in WhatsApp groups, privately. All it takes is one person to make a complaint.

Not saying I agree with any of it, I don't, but it's how the world is today.

 

[LCC106]

If your social media policy states that any groups associated with work have to be closed or cannot operate, then it’s workplace suicide to continue running or operating the group. Hard job to get, far too easy to lose.

 

[vikingdriver]

Having seen people dismissed for social media related activities, I'd choose continued employment.

 

[Buiadh]

You need to make sure there's nothing on the workplace page tying it to the TOC, additionally you should remove any workplaces from your personal profiles too.

As a union rep, social media is a minefield and it's better to steer clear of it. If you can't stay away, you need to make sure there is nothing that ties you, 'John Smith' to a Facebook/X account called 'John Smith' if you want to post about your workplace.

Even closed groups or private posts are potentially unsafe. Honestly, it's best to avoid the social media/workplace gap altogether.

 

[Gemz91]

what benefit does it provide to you to be running an unofficial work place Facebook group? It sounds like the potential bother and risks that come with running it will by far outstrip any benefits that come with it.