Wilson Chan, an employment law attorney with Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP in Calgary, argues that employers need to have an explicit policy on social media and how it pertains to the workplace.
The most important piece of advice, according to Chan, is to create a policy that outlines expectations for all parties on how it should be used and what is and is not acceptable. “One of the issues is that not many organizations have clear policies, and when that happens, issues might arise because workers may claim, “Well, you never told me,”
Employers “may not be able to define every single case,” says Chan, but simply setting the tone for what is expected of them at the highest level is crucial.
Because they will know where they stand on whether or not they may share Tik Tok videos, employees will profit from such a policy as well as the company. Chan advises workers to be aware of their employer’s social media policies, whether or not there is a written policy in place.
Does anyone care? Do they advocate for increased privacy on social media? The essential lesson is to assume that your employer may be observing if your social media feed is public.
Chan continues by pointing out how social media has ingrained itself into society and the potential harm it might do to an employer’s brand.
The transition from conventional social media accounts like Facebook to content-creation platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube, he adds, might exacerbate the issue.
The fundamental distinction, according to him, is that many businesses still see social media as a place where staff members may build up profiles and express their emotions to a select group of individuals. But today, it’s mainly focused on material that aims to increase interaction and get likes, shares, and retweets in order to draw as much attention to the host as possible.
There are certainly legal dangers from privacy or human rights viewpoint, he adds, but employers “are clearly doing it, maybe more today than ever before.” One illustration is not employing someone because you discovered they were pregnant after looking at their profile. He claims that you couldn’t pose such a topic in an interview and that coming up with a different solution would go against human rights laws.
