Workplace Culture



    
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    <p>Organizational culture, corporate culture, workplace culture: these phrases are tossed around a lot in discussions of what makes for a positive—or negative—place to work. But what is organizational culture and why does it matter? We’ll look into both of those questions and more as we dig into the definition and meaning of organizational culture.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">First, a Little History</h3>
    <p>Before diving into what organizational culture is, a disclaimer: A fixed, universal understanding of what organizational culture is does not exist. In his essay “<a href="http://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/Defining-Culture-and-Organizationa-Culture_5.pdf" target="_blank">Defining ‘Culture’ and ‘Organizational Culture’: From Anthropology to the Office</a>,” Bruce M. Tharp points to a 1998 study as an example of how complicated it can be to define organizational culture. The study, he says, identified 54 different academic definitions of organization culture between 1960 and 1993.</p>

    <p>While defining organization culture isn’t simple, it isn’t impossible, either. The next few paragraphs will explore what it means, why it’s important, and tips for establishing a positive workplace culture.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Breaking Down the Definition of Organizational Culture</h3>

    <p>The definition of organizational culture crafted by Edgar Schein, former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Organizational-Culture-Leadership-Edgar-Schein/dp/0470190604" target="_blank">Organizational Culture and Leadership</a>,” is often used as a general jumping off point. </p>

    <p>Schein defines organizational culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”</p>

    <p>In other words: shared beliefs within an organization that have been proven to work well in external and internal communication, are embraced by management and employees, and are used as guidelines when addressing problems or other situations.</p>

    <p>Schein states that culture can be seen in three key ways within an organization: in observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions.</p>

    <p><strong>Observable artifacts are an organization’s attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs—what it considers important and meaningful.</strong></p>

    <strong>Examples include:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>A company’s physical surroundings (the building, interior design, landscape, etc.)</li>
        <li>Products</li> 
        <li>Technologies</li>
        <li>Style (clothing, art, publications, etc.)</li>
        <li>Published values and mission statement</li>
        <li>Language, jargon, tone, and humor</li>
        <li>Myths and stories</li>
        <li>Practices, rituals, ceremonies, and taboos</li>
    </ul>

   <p>Google is a great example of a company that uses observable artifacts to define its organizational culture. Some of the <a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/locations/" target="_blank">observable artifacts found at Google’s</a> 70+ offices in more than 40 countries that tie into their organizational culture include:</p>
    <ul>
        <li>Murals and decorations expressing the local personality of the different offices</li>
        <li>Shared cubicles, yurts, and “huddles”</li>
        <li>Video games, pool tables, and pianos</li>
        <li>Cafes and “micro-kitchens” stocked with healthy food</li> 
        <li>Whiteboards for “spur-of-the-moment brainstorming”</li>
    </ul>

    <p>All this reflects <a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/" target="_blank">Google’s statement about their culture</a>, which says: “Although Googlers share common goals and visions for the company, we hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages, reflecting the global audience that we serve. […] We strive to maintain the open culture often associated with startups, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. […] Our offices and cafes are designed to encourage interactions between Googlers within and across teams, and to spark conversation about work as well as play.”</p>

   <p><strong>Espoused values are the things advocated by a company’s leadership and management.</strong></p>

    <strong>These can be defined as:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>Beliefs upon which the company is built—the company’s code of conduct</li>
        <li>Demonstrated traits; managers serve as examples by modeling the values they wish to see in their company</li>
        <li>Promotional efforts (in-office posters, company newsletters, special events, seminars, lectures) that further communicate these core beliefs </li>
    </ul>

    <p>Google works well as an example here, too. In the company’s weekly all-hands (“TGIF”) meetings, over email, and in the cafes, Googlers are <a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/" target="_blank">encouraged to ask questions directly to Larry Page and Sergey Brin</a>, Google’s co-founders and CEO (Larry), and other executives about any and all company issues. This open communication models the value management places on transparency and humility; by inviting all 40,000+ employees to have a conversation about the company with senior management, Google is demonstrating that this is a core belief.</p>

    <p><strong>Basic assumptions are underlying determinants of an organization’s attitudes, thought processes, and actions. These are defined as:</strong></p>
    <ul>
        <li>Assumptions central to an organization’s culture</li>
        <li>Values that are so ingrained and taken-for-granted that individuals are usually unaware of their influence</li>
        <li>Aspects of a workplace that provide an unspoken sense of security</li>
        <li>The “it” factor of a place—it’s vibe, atmosphere, etc. that is present, but unable to be defined in a tangible way</li>
    </ul>

    <p>Since basic assumptions by definition are intangible, they can be hard to pin down. Staying with the Google example, however, this aspect of organizational culture can be seen in number 10 of its “Ten Things We Know to be True” statement that was written to answer the “<a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/" target="_blank">What We Believe</a>” question. Here are excerpts from that statement: </p>
    <blockquote class="blockquote__alt">10. Great just isn’t good enough. 
    We see being great at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected. Through innovation and iteration, we aim to take things that work well and improve upon them in unexpected ways. […] We try to anticipate needs not yet articulated by our global audience, and meet them with products and services that set new standards. […] We’re always looking for new places where we can make a difference. Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are becomes the driving force behind everything we do.</blockquote>

    <p>“Greatness” isn’t something a corporation can buy, but it’s something Google strove to include within their organizational culture at the beginning and strive to maintain today. It’s also a great example of a basic assumption that determines an organization’s attitude, thought process, and actions.</p> 

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Why Organizational Culture is Important</h3>

    <p>Organizational culture, as defined by the <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizational-culture.html" target"_blank">Business Dictionary</a>, is “the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.”</p>

    <p>It includes a company’s expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold it together.</p> 

    <p>It is expressed in its self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations.</p>

    <p>It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid.</p>

    <p>Basically, it affects every aspect of a company and determines not only the corporation’s present, but also its future. By building the right culture and environment, a company can: </p>

    <ul>
        <li>Increase productivity and performance</li>
        <li>Provide better customer service</li>
        <li>Ensure better product quality and safety</li>
        <li>Increase employee attendance and punctuality</li>
        <li>Make better products</li>
        <li>Have more impactful marketing and advertising practices</li>
        <li>Be more innovative with product creation</li>
    </ul>

   <p><a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865567183/Building-a-great-organizational-culture-is-a-win-win-for-employees-managers.html?pg=all" target="_blank">That’s according to an article written by Ann Rhoades</a>, one of the founding executives of JetBlue Airways, winner of the JD Powers award for customer service. She explicitly outlines a few of the benefits she’s seen from building a strong, positive culture, from different points of view, including:</p>

    <strong>For the company:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>Lower levels of absenteeism and turnover</li>
        <li>Increased employee engagement</li>
        <li>Increased alignment of employee performance and corporate objectives</li>
        <li>Increased customer satisfaction scores</li>
    </ul>
    <strong>For the employee:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>An increased feeling of well-being and job satisfaction</li>
        <li>Increased trust in management</li>
        <li>Higher engagement scores</li>
        <li>Higher productivity overall</li>
    </ul>
    <strong>For the customer:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>Increased responsiveness to customer needs</li>
        <li>Higher service quality levels</li>
        <li>Increased levels of trust due to higher transparency and open communication</li>
        <li>Increased customer satisfaction</li>
    </ul>

   <h3 class="h3__alt">Tips for Establishing a Good Organizational Culture</h3>

    <p>Now that we’ve discussed what organizational culture is and why it’s important, here are a few <a href="http://www.inc.com/sam-bacharach/how-to-establish-your-companys-organizational-culture.html" target="_blank">ways to establish your company’s culture</a>. </p>

    <ol>
        <li>Articulate a core cultural statement.</li>

    <p>A company’s core cultural statement should be embedded in its mission statement and seek to further explain the concept. For example, <a href="http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=2047" target="_blank">Patagonia’s mission statement</a> is “Build the best products, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”</p>

    <p>That in and of itself is explanatory. But then they go on to explain the “why” behind the statement, a further definition of their values (simplicity, utility, donating time, services, and money to grassroots environmental groups, etc.) to establish a deeper core cultural statement and understanding.</p>

   <li>Develop a cultural vocabulary.</li>

    <p>Once a core cultural statement is established and paired with the mission statement, a company should consider the words it wants to use to define the sentiment in question. What reinforcing words, adjectives, and nouns best reflect your core cultural statement? Identify a list of words that define your culture and use them regularly in internal and external communications.</p>

    <p>A great example of this is demonstrated at <a href="http://www.inc.com/jay-steinfeld/words-matter-why-corporate-vocabulary-matters.html" target="_blank">Blinds.com, where CEO Jay Steinfeld says</a> words are used to inspire (projects are named things like “Everest,” to emphasize “taking customer product customization to new heights”), establish accountability (trainees are called “future stars,” call centers are called “academy bay,” sales reps are called “design consultants”), and support core values (the word “failure” is forbidden within the office, called “learning experiences” instead).</p>

    <li>Model your behavior.</li>

    <p>Leaders need to practice what they preach, especially with culture, where modeling behavior is particularly important. Act in such a manner that shows employees that you live the culture. Organizational culture should be reflected in leaders’ behavior in a natural, consistent, and unobtrusive way so the modeling is authentic. If it is, employees will follow suit. </p>

    <p>Examples of this are often seen with <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/is-servant-leadership-the-most-effective-type-of-management/">servant leaders</a>, who demonstrate expectations to employees by showing them how to act.</p>

    <p>HR professionals can also help foster an atmosphere that reflects a company’s organizational culture by <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/1244-organizational-design-how-hr-professionals-can-become-effective-sustainability-leaders" target="_blank">acting as stewards of cultural practices</a>. HR is often responsible for helping to shape or reshape an organization’s culture by developing programs that align to and support it, as well as by measuring how employees engage with it. Serving as the person that helps others manage change or adapt to these workplace cultural norms is critical to driving systemic change.</p>

    <li>Avoid cultural drift.</li>

    <p>After organizational culture is defined and established in the above ways, take strides to continue to support it through actions, words, and attitude. No matter what, leadership should reinforce, recognize, and reward behavior that's consistent with the company’s core cultural statement.</p>
</ol>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Conclusion</h3>

    <p>Organizational culture involves the values and behaviors that contribute to a company’s social and psychological environment. It involves the expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold a business together. A positive organizational culture can motivate and inspire and propel your business forward, while cultivating a positive work environment that everyone can appreciate.</p>






What Is Organizational Culture?



    
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    <p>Favoritism in the workplace is generally perceived as a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/10/25/how-to-deal-with-favoritism-at-work/" target="_blank">negative thing</a>. Experts and business leaders like Lynn Taylor (workplace expert and author of <a href="http://www.tameyourtot.com/" target="_blank"><em>Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant; How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job</em></a>) talk about how favoritism has a toxic effect on the workplace culture, saying it can start as something benign but develop into a hostile environment for others. </p>
    <p>But favoritism in the workplace doesn’t always lead to terrible outcomes. Sometimes, it can even create better, more productive workplace cultures. To build up rather than tear down via playing favorites, it’s important for managers to take careful, well-thought-out approaches to the tactic. But we’ll get to that. Here, we discuss the dos and don’ts of playing favorites at work.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Playing Favorites: Everyone Does It — But Not Always Right</h4>
    <p>A whopping 92% of senior business executives have seen favoritism at play in employee promotions, and a quarter of executives admitted to practicing favoritism themselves according to a <a href="http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2011/08/29/new-study-reveals-objective-decision-making-on-promotions-a-sham/" target="_blank">2011 survey conducted by Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business</a>.</p>

    <p>The study respondents defined favoritism as giving preferential treatment to employees based on factors other than qualifications and performance, such as friendship or connections. It’s there that the problem lies.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Wrong Way to Use Favoritism in the Workplace</h4>
    <p>Misplaced priorities cause most of the negative impacts attributed to favoritism. Misplaced priorities, of course, being those that choose favorites due to factors not related to the workplace. </p>

    <p>Disparaging others — “Why can’t you be more like so-and-so?” — or favoring people based on arbitrary factors like shared interests or similar personalities leads to negative outcomes. When managers prioritize things that are unrelated to work, and are therefore unable to be achieved by everyone, it makes the workplace feel like a constant popularity contest.</p> 

    <p>Instead of motivating other employees to strive to do better, this type of favoritism can lead to envy, discontent, and an atmosphere of resentment. This, in turn, can de-motivate employees and damage team unity. It can also cause managers to overlook growth opportunities and unique skill sets offered by others — the “unfavorites.”</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Right Way to Use Favoritism in the Workplace</h4>
    <p>Now that we’ve talked about how not to play favorites, let's focus how to do it correctly and how it can benefit an organization. The right way to use favoritism in the workplace is to be transparent, careful, and selective about methods and to show favoritism for the right reasons — a.k.a. reasons related exclusively to job performance and at-work behavior. This type of favoritism can actually make employees feel more motivated and empowered. </p>

    <p>Proof of these positive outcomes was outlined in a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-012-1287-5" target="_blank">2013 study by the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, which was published in the <em>Journal of Business Ethics</em></a>. The study found that employees who were favored a little more than others experienced heightened self-esteem and were more likely to follow workplace norms and perform tasks that benefit the entire group. The favored employees were also perceived as both more social and more productive by coworkers.</p>

    <p>“There’s a risk that treating some employees better than the rest can turn others off," said Professor Karl Aquino, one of the study's authors. "The key is to find the right balance — treat everyone reasonably well, but treat those whose work counts most or who have been most productive just a little bit better.”</p>

    <p>Although the study only focuses on how those being favored react to the favoritism, evidence suggests that favored employees are motivated to comply with norms and to engage in tasks that benefit the group as a whole, which means non-favored employees also benefit. When done right, everyone wins.</p>

    <p>That said, let’s get into the dos and don’ts.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">What Not to Do When Playing Favorites in the Workplace</h4>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Don’t</strong> just favor the employees you hired yourself over ones you inherited</li>
    
        <li><strong>Don’t</strong> favor employees based on factors other than work, such as friendship or shared interests (have children, own pets, like the outdoors, like a genre of music, etc.)</li>
    
       <li><strong>Don't</strong> compare one employee to another</li>
    </ul>

    These things send the message that favoritism isn’t earned but bestowed, based not on performance but on unspecified preferences. That can be damaging to workplace morale and productivity.


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Right Way to Play Favorites in the Workplace</h4>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Do</strong> show preference to employees who work or try harder, perform better, and deliver more consistent results </li>
    
        <li><strong>Do</strong> reward employees who are willing to collaborate and compromise</li>
    
        <li><strong>Do</strong> motivate and empower employees in ways that benefit the entire team — when someone performs above and beyond, praise them, reward them, and then include everyone in the celebration to encourage them all to aim high and achieve</li>
    </ul>

    <p>In sum, favoritism in the workplace can be a good thing. By showing preferential treatment to employees from time to time based on performance, they can feel a greater sense of self-worth in their jobs, tend to stick around longer, and, eventually, may become effective leaders themselves. For more tips on how to positively engage employees, see this article on alternative ways to encourage employee engagement.</p>




When Favoritism in the Workplace is a Good Thing



    
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    <p>It sounds odd at first, encouraging employees to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites at work. But social media in the workplace isn’t the taboo thing it once was. In fact, 90% of companies use social media for business purposes, according to a <a href="http://www.proskauer.com/news/press-releases/proskauer-releases-2014-social-media-in-the-workplace-global-study/" target="_blank">2014 global survey</a>. That’s right: 90%.</p>

    <p>There are many benefits to using social media in the workplace. A few include improved communication within the company, promotion of the company brand, recruiting talent, and better customer service (which leads to increased customer loyalty). Of course, the benefits only come with proper management and communication with employees. But done right, using social media in the workplace can be a benefit to your company, your employees, and your customers. Here’s how.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Improved Communication Within the Company</h3>
    <p>Once upon a time, companies used newsletters to keep employees informed. Social media is the new newsletter. Private Facebook pages and events can keep employees up to date with current events and changes, as well as act as a sort of interactive “who’s who” page, putting faces to names for coworkers that work in different offices.</p>

    <p>Beyond serving as a way to keep employees informed, social media can also be an avenue for <a href="http://www.gwava.com/blog/social-media-in-the-workplace-benefits-and-growth/" target="_blank">creating a sense of community and affirmation</a> among employees and business partners. That is, after all, what social media is intended for: bringing people together, even when they can’t physically be together. And <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/09/24/how-much-coworker-socializing-is-good-for-your-career/" target="_blank">happy employees are productive employees</a>, says Alexander Kjerulf, author and speaker on the topic of happiness at work. “Employees who have positive workplace relationships are happier at work…and we know that people who are happy at work are more productive, more creative, and more successful overall.”</p>

    <p>A <a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/05/01/case-for-embracing-social-media-at-work/" target="_blank">report</a> by David Maxfield, co-author of Crucial Conversations, and Mike Rognlien, learning and development manager at Facebook, backs Kjerulf’s claim. The report studied 2,698 people and found that for three in five workers, social media has resulted in better relationships at work; one in three have used social media to further work-related projects.</p>

    <p>Since social media is prevalent, popular, and here to stay, it’s best to take <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/03/business/opinion-keen-social-media-office/" target="_blank">CNN</a>’s advice and embrace and utilize it, treating it as the new coffee break.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Promotion of the Company Brand</h3>
    <p>It used to be enough to have a good company website. But now, to reach the most people—and the right demographic—social media is also important. <a href="https://about.twitter.com/company" target="_blank">Twitter</a> has 302 million monthly active users. <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> has 1.44 billion monthly active users. That’s a big market, and it’s right at your fingertips.</p>

    <p>If employees are tweeting and retweeting company news, posting photos of products on Instagram, and inviting people to “like” your Facebook page, they are essentially acting as social media marketers. But instead of having to pay them overtime, all you have to do is allow them to do what comes naturally to them: multitask, balancing work life with their virtual life.</p>

    <p>As for your sales and marketing team, social media can be used to promote products and services instantly and widely. Once the promotion is out there, consumers are able to interact with it, communicate with one another about it, and share their ideas and experience with it. This creates a personal connection to your company and, with it, brand loyalty.</p>

    <p>Another thing to consider: When employees are on social media—even their personal pages—they are able to keep tabs on competition and news stories in real time. This instant access to information gives people “an ESP-like sense of what other people are thinking,” says Clive Thompson in his book, <em><a href="http://www.penguin.com/book/smarter-than-you-think-by-clive-thompson/9781594204456" target="_blank">Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better</a></em>. That kind of insight can give your company the leg-up on competition and information that helps you better communicate with your customers.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Recruiting New Talent</h3>
    <p>Online professional networks are an incredibly rich area to find talent you might otherwise never know about or be able to reach. The largest, <a href="https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>, has over 364 million registered members in over 200 countries. That’s instant worldwide access to potential job recruits: the best and the brightest, from new college graduates to established talent. </p>

    <p>Beyond websites structured specifically for recruiting, other social media venues allow business partners, employees, and co-workers present and past to keep in touch and inform one another about potential hiring opportunities. The better connected your company is, the more possibilities there are for improving your hiring prospects. </p>

    <p>One more thing to keep in mind is that prospective employees use the social media profiles of companies to <a href="http://techranchaustin.com/opportunities-and-challenges-of-social-media-in-the-workplace/" target="_blank">make lists of places where they might want to work</a>. By creating an attractive, up-to-date, interactive profile, your company can better attract top candidates.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Better Customer Service</h3>
    <p>Once you establish your social media presence, customers will expect to use it as a way to connect with you—think of it as the new “contact us” page, but instead of email and phone numbers, there are Twitter handles and Facebook messages. </p>

    The key to using social media as customer service is to be timely and effective. Only 36% of consumers that make customer service inquiries via social media reported having their issue solved quickly and effectively, according to NM Incite’s <a href="https://soulofbrands.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nm-incite-report-the-state-of-social-customer-service-2012.pdf" target="_blank">2012 “State of Social Customer Service Report.”</a> You want to do better than that. Here’s why:

    <ul>
        <li>Customers end up spending <a href="http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/putting-social-media-to-work.aspx" target="_blank">20-40% more</a> when companies engage and respond to customer service requests over social media (as opposed to not responding)</li>

        <li><a href="https://soulofbrands.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nm-incite-report-the-state-of-social-customer-service-2012.pdf" target="_blank">71% of customers</a> who get a quick and effective response are likely to recommend that brand to another</li>
        <li><a href="http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/commerce/live-help-on-demand/oracle-live-help-wp-aamf-1624138.pdf" target="_blank">43% of customers</a> say that a direct response to their questions is most important at a social media site</li>
        <li><a href="http://www.maritzresearch.com/~/media/Files/MaritzResearch/e24/ExecutiveSummaryTwitterPoll.ashx" target="_blank">86% of social media customers</a> would like or love to hear from a company regarding a complaint</li>
    </ul>

   <h3 class="h3__alt">Potential Problems—and How to Avoid Them</h3>
    <p>Allowing and encouraging social media in the workplace can be beneficial to a company, but it needs to come with guidelines or problems—like wasted time (see below)—will creep in.</p>

    A <a href="http://www.salary.com/2014-wasting-time-at-work/" target="_blank">2014 Salary.com survey</a> of 750 people revealed the following information about people wasting time at work on social media:
    <ul>
        <li>389% of people reported wasting time at work every day—up 20% from their 2013 survey compared to last year</li>
        <li>31% waste roughly 30 minutes daily</li>
        <li>31% waste roughly 1 hour daily</li>
        <li>16% waste roughly 2 hours daily</li>
        <li>6% waste roughly 3 hours daily</li>
        <li>2% waste roughly 4 hours daily</li>
        <li>2% waste 5 or more hours daily</li>
    </ul>

    <p>The best way to combat this is by having a <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/what-should-go-in-an-employee-handbook-template/">social media policy in your employee handbook</a>. The policy should spell out exactly what is and is not allowed for social media use during the workday. Be sure to think about the following <a href="http://www.reinhartlaw.com/Publications/Documents/ea20130506LL.pdf?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=View-Original" target="_blank">legal considerations</a>:</p>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Understand your employees' rights</strong> to use social media under the <a href="http://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/fact-sheets/nlrb-and-social-media" target="_blank">National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)</a>. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) says that <a href="http://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/social-media" target="_blank">employees have the right to discuss work conditions on social media sites without retribution from their employers</a>.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Restrict behavior that is not protected under the NLRA</strong>. For example: employees should be forbidden from disclosing trade secrets, posting anything that contains offensive language, posting harassing or disparaging comments about other employees that could lead to discrimination claims (such as comments related to sex, race, disability or religion), etc.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Be specific</strong> and include examples of the types of behavior that violate the policy.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Include that all forms of communication on company-owned property may be monitored</strong>. Tell employees this in advance so there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. Require employee signatures to acknowledge that you told them and that they understand the policy.</li>
    
        <li><strong>State that you can modify the policy at any time</strong>. Social media is constantly changing, and you need to be able to modify it as needed. Notify employees when there has been an update and require them to familiarize themselves with the updated policy.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Train employees on the policy</strong>. Make sure employees understand what the policy says and how it applies to their jobs. They also should understand the risks associated with social media as well as the benefits of appropriate use. Train them on <a href="/resources/skill-development/time-management-strategies-for-hrs/">tips for time-management strategies</a>. Conduct re-trainings to update employees about policy modifications.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Enforce the policy</strong>. Create, communicate, and incorporate disciplinary actions to apply to social media violations. Courts are likely to evaluate the policy's validity based on equal enforcement, so all activity should be treated equally. This may require collaboration among HR, IT, and legal departments.</li>
    </ul>

    <p>There are many benefits born of using social media in the workplace. Improved communication within the company, promotion of the company brand, recruiting talent, better customer service, increased customer loyalty—it would be imprudent not to fully utilize the many mediums available online. </p>

    <p>By educating your employees on proper social media etiquette and expectations, there’s no reason your company can’t thrive online. Use it right, and let social media be a benefit to your company, your employees, and your customers</p>





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