Neil Berdiev

One side of social activity is an employee potentially doing something foolish, inappropriate and reckless that can get her or him disciplined or even fired. There are a number of examples of bankers being fired over the last few years for racist rants or otherwise inappropriate posts, possibly causing reputational damages for their employers (e.g. Bank of America, Regions Bank, Kennebunk Savings Bank, MTC Federal Credit Union and others).

There is also another side that stems from opinions that are strong and controversial that can entangle your business in a quagmire of controversy because they may be misconstrued as your corporate opinions, especially if the individual is a senior or executive manager. That is also a dangerous side because it can lead to deep damages to your company’s reputation. What’s especially harmful in these situations is that whatever your reaction, or lack of thereof, you may be setting a precedent if you treat one employee differently from another. As one head of social media program noted, once you make an exception, others will use it against you. A 2011 social media survey by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics revealed that 42 percent of respondents reported that their organizations had to discipline an employee for behavior on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. That’s up from 24 percent in 2008, and it is logical that those numbers are even higher now in 2017 and will continue to grow.

Internal Implications

Suppose a senior manager posts views that are not agreed with by all in your organization, and the statements were not formally approved by your company. What if some team members, possibly direct reports, think differently and disagree? If colleagues speak out against these views and get into trouble, you’ve potentially created an HR situation. What if this online post gets out of control by non-employees with offensive or threatening content? Your employee was the one who started the thread and that person’s and your bank’s names are now passed around with highly damaging content. What if other, perhaps more junior, employees post something similar but now your senior management does not like it and squashes it? Now you’ve permitted something for a senior manager but went after a lower ranking employee under similar circumstances.

External Implications

The realm of clients, prospects, business partners, referral sources, regulators and other parties is even broader and more complicated to manage. They may have a negative personal or corporate reaction to your employees’ social activity, which can spill over into the business and how individuals think about your organization. Senior managers and executives must be held to the highest standard; they are your torchbearers, setting examples for employees and external parties. Some marketing and PR teams want all social media comments by senior managers to go through them, as the “big egos that can come with high level jobs” is a risk they can’t afford.

As reminded by our corporate counsel and employment matters expert, generally speaking there is no First Amendment when it comes to social media and your place of employment. The First Amendment is for the matters of freedoms of speech and the state and matters of public concerns, not when it comes to saying what you want and when you want online, if it goes against your employer’s policies (contact your attorney on specific questions though, including on the protected activity under the NLRA).

We live in the age of opinion activism with free access to the national audience microphone, 140-character comments, sound-bites rather than dialogue and rash and sometimes well-intended but ill-executed posts. Time and resources invested now will pay off handsomely by preventing costly situations in the future. A complete ban on social media does not make sense and likely won’t work. What your employees need is a well-defined written program, guiding principles and awareness, expectations, do’s and don’ts, rights and responsibilities, and resources to ask questions and get supportive guidance. Be fair to your employees and to your business!

Editor’s Note: this is the conclusion of a two-part column; part one focused on outlining a social media policy.

Neil Berdiev is a commercial banker and co-founder of DNB Advisory LLC, a commercial credit advisory firm. He may be reached at neil@dnbadvisory.com.