DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

 

For this question participants were asked to choose all that apply. The number represents the participants who answered the question.  Out of 271 participants, 8 skipped the questions and 19 answered “other”, 4 reported that they are self employed, one is in the military, another works in construction and 4 said the question was not applicable (to their line of work).   A few used “other” to make a comment, for example, a respondent, who does not use social media at all, commented “For the purposes of this survey, I literally logged into ww.fb.com to see if I would get an error message and I didn't so I'm assuming we have open access”.   Because monitored is a position that can be applied to two other options, it was made a “check all that apply” question.  Thus, the total exceeds 100%.          

 

            Key findings:  Survey findings suggest that employers have different approaches and attitudes about employee access to social media from company computers.  The majority of companies allow some type of access, 36% have open access, 19% block, 18% monitor and 15% restrict access.  These findings are similar to those of other historical studies.  The Silk 2011 survey found that 16% of companies block social media access.  Other findings in the "Social Media in the Workplace" survey show that an estimated 71% of participants use social media while at work, including those working in companies that block, monitor and restrict social media access to work related sites. 

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Of 271 participants, 12 skipped this question, 11 chose the option “other, please specify”, of those 5 commented that the questions does not apply and three are unemployed.  One participant commented “Do not post anything inappropriate. You can get fired”.

 

 Key findings:  Forty two percent (42%) of survey participants work for organizations that have official social media policies. Our findings are lower than those reported by the Society of Human Resources Managers who report that 60% of corporations have formal social media policies. The SHRM findings mirror the results of the Silkwood survey that found that 53% of organizations have social media policies ("Social media and", 2012).  However, the findings are broken up into organizations that have general polices that include technology and those that have specific social media policies ("An examination of", 2012).  Thus, anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of organizations with official or formal social media policies is decreasing.  Many organizations have limited their social media policies to one or two sentences or are not imposing official policies at all, for example the New York Times social media editor says that their policy is to tell employees, "don't be stupid" (Davis, 2011).  Some employers believe that having a social media policy is risky and that trying to control employee social media conduct can backfire and violate NLRA's policies. 

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Of 271 respondents, 6 skipped the question, 98% replied.  There were several interesting comments made for this question, one respondent wrote, “If they're gonna monitor social media use, all social media use is fair game”.

 

         Key findings: Survey findings suggest that many employees understand their rights but almost one fifth of respondents (19%) may not.  A significant number of respondents believe that employees should be allowed to monitor employee union activity on social media. One respondent commented, “Everyone has a right to be informed, especially top management”.   Contrary to this opinions, the NLRB disagrees and prohibits employer unauthorized monitoring of employees’ union activity.  In the case of Connecticut Humane Society and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (See Board Decision(1).pdf) the Board ruled that the employer had violated the Act when it told two employees that it had learned about their union activities from a reliable source thereby leading them to believe that they were being monitored.  Although the employer may not have monitored employee social media union activities the court reasoned that if employees believe they are being monitored they may not engage in union activities and thus the employer was found to be in violation of section 8 (a) (1) of the Act (Salpern & Green, 2013).

 

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Of 271 respondents, 46 skipped the question, 81 checked other.  Of those that checked other, most didn't know that such a policy existed in their workplace, and others said there was no specific policy addressing these issues. 

 

Key finding:  Survey findings reveal that an estimated 39% of employers have blanket restrictions on employee making comments or engaging in social media discussions about employees, clients and wages and 7% require employer approval for the same.  The NLRB has warned against these types of unlawful provisions for they may chill employees from engaging in protective activities.  Interestingly, an estimated 35% allow conversations about company products.  One respondent wrote, Derogatory comments about products from my company are not allowed. Conversely, good comments are".  This is an area that is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.  The agency has issued warnings to companies whose employees review or otherwise provide positive commentary about their company products without revealing their association to the company as it is a violation of federal law.  The FTC's revised endorsement guides in part reads "If there's a connection between the endorser and the marketer of the product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed" ("The ftc’s revised," 2010).

 

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            Of the total, 254 participants answered the question and 17 skipped it. There were 34 comments, consisting mostly of not applicable, unemployed and I don’t know.         

 

Key findings:  The majority of respondents (99) answered no, and 88 checked “there is no such policy” and 45 answered yes. Such policies must provide examples of unacceptable or unusual behavior and use clear, unambiguous language.   Companies that prohibit discrimination and harassment in the workplace can ask employees to report discrimination in any forum, including social media.  Without clarification employees may construe that they are to report discussions about wages, working conditions and other protected conversations.

 

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Of the total number of participants 248 answered the question, 17 skipped it. 28 participants added comments.  Many commented that the question “does not apply [or] “I don’t know”.  One participant commented “i would assume any company would want that” 

 

Key findings: One quarter of participants indicate that their employers ask them to be friendly and courteous in their social media communication. A few participants made interesting comments. One wrote “They do not have an implicit statement. However, if I want to keep my job, it is best to be cordial and put on a professional demeanor”.  Although employees should always be cordial when engaging customers, clients, or patients, employers asking employees to be friendly and courteous in their social media discussions or actions is unlawful as it has the potential to chill protected activities.  When Employees are engaged in conversations about working condition, unionizing or wages the discussion is often heated and passionate. Thus, employers who prohibit employers from using derogatory language or ask them to be respectful or friendly in social media conversations are in violation of Section 8 (a) (1) of the Act.

 

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There were a total of 251 responses to this question, 20 participants skipped the question. Of the 29 comments made most were “I don’t know” or not applicable. One participant commented “My company has its own Internet Messenger for work related communication.

 

Key findings:  An estimated one third of participants said that their companies ask them to use internal resources to solve work related problems.  One respondent commented, “we have IM [instant messaging] AKO”.  Whether a company has internal social media or not is irrelevant.  Employers cannot encourage or suggest that employees use internal resources to solve work problems or concerns.   Employees may construe the policy to mean they cannot communicate with parties outside of the company, such as the NLRB to seek advice or counsel for work problems or concerns.

 

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Discussion

 

Analysis of the findings revealed that an estimated 85% of participants are working, 88% use social media and 79% use Facebook.  Additionally, the majority of respondents work for organizations that have official social media policies and a third opined that their employers’ policy is not clear at all.  Survey findings further suggests that the majority of companies who have social media policies don’t have clear policies and that whether a company has an official policy or not, has a clear policy or not, its policies about what it considers appropriate social media conduct and language is somehow conveyed to employees.  Survey findings also reveal that approximately one third (35%) of respondents work for employers who impose unlawful provisions, for example, 46% of employers, including some with no official policies prohibit social media discussions about wages, and 48% do not allow discussions about clients, protected activities.

 

Many corporations resort to blocking or banning social media use from the workplace.  A 2010 survey found that 39% of surveyed corporations ban social media from the workplace (Social media and, 2012).  Our survey findings reveal a much lower statistics, an estimated 20% of participants work for companies that block access to social media.  Further analysis reveals that of the 20% more than a third of these employers don't have official policies and half of them impose unlawful social media restrictions.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that many employers whether they have an official policy or not impose illegal restrictions on employee use of social media.  However, this study reveals that the majority of participants (46%) spend between 15 and 30 minutes using social media daily from the workplace, followed by 25%  who spend between 1 to 4 hours on social media during their workday.  It is important to note that survey findings reveal that the majority (45%) of employees are not concerned with adverse sequences that may result from their social media use. Thus, imposing blanket restrictions does not control employee social media behavior.

 

Overall, survey findings suggests that the majority (70%)of respondents are using social media even with restrictions in place from their work computers or their own devices while at work, every day whether they are blocked, have open access, restricted access or monitored, have official social media policies or not.  Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggests that employees bring their own devices to work.  Thus, imposing prohibitive policies does little to control employee use of social media from the workplace or mitigate employer risk for employee law suit or litigation.

 

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many employers (35%) may not understand labor related laws as they apply to workplace policies and are therefore at increased risk for legal liabilities. The National Labor Relations Act gives protections to employees who engage in conversations about the working conditions whether they are held in the workplace, a public space, at home, or on social media.  Employers who violate employees' rights risk an unfair labor practice complaint from employees' or the National Labor Relations Board.

 

Future studies in this area should ask specific questions as to what social media activities employers prohibit and or allow and what if any adverse actions or consequences participants have experienced from their social media activities.  Additional questions should also include the profession or title of participants, size of the company and the industry they work in.  These types of questions would allow for further analysis and help identify what types of companies and or industries are more likely to have unlawful or lawful social media policies. 

 

 

 

          

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.