Work & Social Networking no-no’s

So I have had the experience of having a team member use social networking to call into work sick! This actually the first time the company has ever had this occur, so undoubtedly I see an amendment to company policy to ensure that future incidents do not occur. My opinion on this is that it is completely unacceptable to use any form of social media to convey an absence from work! This particular incident surrounded the use of Facebook to inform me that the team member was allegedly ill and unable to return to work for two days.

Under normal circumstances this would usually be covered as a failure to call in to work which in the company that I work for is termed a No Call No Show and a team member can be terminated over these incidents. However I am predicting that labor relations will say that an attempt to communicate the absence was made and will be covered as an improper call in procedure however future incidents of this nature will result in termination of employment.

The lesson here is that yes the world is rapidly changing and Social Networking to become an active part in this change but there are still some proper etiquette  to follow in regards to social networking! The first is keep business and personal separate especially in the realm of social networking. Secondly unless a company has deemed it acceptable to use social networking sites to convey messages of absence, tardiness or anything else that relates to the performance of your job don’t do it, even if your manager maybe connected to you through these types of sites.

Advertisement