By Robert Siciliano Your employee’s online life could open your business to some serious dangers. Many small businesses recognize the benefits of having a social media presence for customer service and long-term marketing purposes. However, many are slow to recognize social media’s security issues and how employees’ own social presence can add to the company’s […]
Who gets your social media contacts when you die? I ask the question partially in jest, but a very close variation to that query has become an important issue in law: Who gets the professional social media contacts when one of your employees leaves? The specific issue here deals with LinkedIn accounts. See if any […]
The increased use of social media platforms may be affecting your company’s morale. A recent study from AVG Technologies finds the mis-use of social media infiltrating the workplace with negative effects. Over half of those employees surveyed believe their company is responsible for online behavior of co-workers, but 25 percent say they aren’t protected from cyber-bullying within existing company policies.
A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board may have significant consequences for businesses of all sizes. In a ground-breaking case, the NLRB accused a company of illegally firing an employee for comments she made about her supervisor on Facebook. The Board considered her criticisms of the company and her bosses as being “protected activity” under the National Labor Relations Act. The Act provides for a number of protections, among them it gives workers a federally protected right to form unions, and it also prohibits employers from punishing workers — whether union or nonunion — for discussing working conditions or unionization.
By now, if you don’t understand the huge impact social media is having on our society today, then you must be living under a rock. For millions of Americans, social media is a prevalent part of their personal and professional lives. And many small businesses are learning to expertly leverage social media as an effective marketing tool. Which raises a tricky question. How do you manage personal and business communications in this new medium?