Social Media is certainly becoming a trending topic amongst professionals since its business usage has significantly increased in recent years. However, it could also represent a risk if companies do not properly manage their own social media networks or their use among employees.
In order to find out more about how to tackle potential risks arising from this situation, we hosted a breakfast seminar in collaboration with Colman Coyle LLP, a member of the Spanish Chamber, on Tuesday 19th November. The seminar focused on approching key management issues resulting from the inappropriate use of social media by employees and managers.
From left to right: Mr. Ignacio Morillas-Paredes and Ms. Sandra Martins from Colman Coyle, and Mr. Igor Urra, Secretary General of the Spanish Chamber.
The seminar was delivered by Sandra Martins, Senior Associate in Colman Coyle’s Employment Department. She is also part of Colman Coyle’s International Legal Service and Anglo-Spanish Legal Service teams.
Her presentation focused on how manages can combat some of the troubles caused by social media as well as how they are able to reduce the risk through the use of the inner policies. She highlighted the importance for organizations to have a social media policy, which must be very clear for employees to ensure an efficient protection of the company’s reputation.
Ms. Martins delivering the session.
In order to emphasize the consequences of a misuse of social networks, Sandra shared some recent case studies on employees who have acted inappropriately on social media platforms and what impact and consequences that behaviour had for both the employee and the company.
One of the examples Sandra brought attention to was the case of an employee who had published a derogatory statement about his company in his private Facebook profile. Someone else from the company printed the comment and passed it on to the store manager where the employee worked, who sacked him on the spot. Despite the comment being made in a private page, the tribunal stated they did not find that the dismissal decision fell outside the range of reasonable responses as the company’s social media policy was very clear in that regard.
Attendees exchanged their opinions over coffee.
As this is still a somewhat unknonw and tricky area, attendees were listening attentively and interacting with the speaker for advice on how to make sure that they will avoid any problems involving social media issues at their companies. After the session, the participants could exchange their impressions on the talk and enjoy some breakfast.
If you would like to find out more about other activities organised by our Chamber, we encourage you to keep an eye on our UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website. We look forward to seeing you at our next event!