Social media policy for employees / Temporary Staff
This policy applies to all staff, students on placement, volunteers and sessional workers and anyone else working on behalf of The Elijah Centre.
Purpose of The Policy
This policy is intended to minimise the risks of social media which can impact on the wellbeing of children, staff and the reputation of The Elijah Centre.
This policy endeavours to make clear the standards of conduct expected by the centre.
Who does this apply to?
This policy relates to all employees who create or contribute to blogs, wikis, social networks, apps, forums, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media.
It should be applied to all use and all forms of social media where there is potential impact on the Centre, whether for work-related or personal use, whether during working hours or otherwise, whether social media is accessed using the Centre’s IT facilities and equipment, or equipment belongs to members of staff or any other third party.
Principles
Responsibilities
Purpose of The Policy
This policy is intended to minimise the risks of social media which can impact on the wellbeing of children, staff and the reputation of The Elijah Centre.
This policy endeavours to make clear the standards of conduct expected by the centre.
Who does this apply to?
This policy relates to all employees who create or contribute to blogs, wikis, social networks, apps, forums, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media.
It should be applied to all use and all forms of social media where there is potential impact on the Centre, whether for work-related or personal use, whether during working hours or otherwise, whether social media is accessed using the Centre’s IT facilities and equipment, or equipment belongs to members of staff or any other third party.
Principles
- Employees should comment within their own area of expertise to provide unique, individual perspectives on non-confidential activities at the centre.
- Employees should never represent themselves or the centre in a false or misleading way. All statements must be true and not misleading; all claims must be substantiated.
- Use common sense and common courtesy. Employees should ask permission to publish or report conversations that are meant to be private or internal to the Elijah centre.
- The Elijah Centre’s privacy, confidentiality and legal guidelines for external communication should not be violated by an employee’s efforts to be transparent.
- Where employees access social media for work-related purposes or personal use using the centre’s IT facilities and equipment, the centre’s IT regulations will apply.
- Employees should seek guidance before participating in social media when the topic being discussed may be considered sensitive (e.g. any information about the children, issues which may impact on the Centre’s reputation, commercially sensitive material).
- Particular care should be taken regarding social media activity around sensitive topics.
- If an employee’s use of social media is considered to be derogatory, discriminatory, bullying, threatening, defamatory, offensive, intimidating, harassing, creating legal liability for The Elijah Centre, bringing the centre into disrepute or affronting the principles outlined in the Care Charter (this may include comments, videos, or photographs, which have been posted on social media sites about the Elijah Centre , then the Centre may take action under the staff disciplinary procedure.
- An employee should not engage in illegal activity through social media or engage in any activity that promotes terrorism. The very fact of possessing or disseminating terrorist material may be sufficient to warrant an investigation by the police and an employee would be put in the position of having to advance a credible defence.
- The Elijah Centre’s response to any misuse of social media in a personal capacity will be reasonable and proportionate to the perceived offence; the nature of the postings/comments made and the impact or potential impact on the centre.
- Social networking sites may be referred to when investigating possible misconduct/gross misconduct.
- The centre may require employees to remove social media postings which are deemed to constitute a breach of these standards and failure to comply with such a request may, in itself, result in disciplinary action.
Responsibilities
- Employees should be transparent and state that they work for The Elijah Centre if they are posting about the centre. (Use your real name, identify that you work for the Centre, and be clear about your role. The centre discourages employees from posting online or via apps anonymously or using pseudonyms. You should never impersonate another individual.
- Employees are responsible for their words and actions in an online environment or via apps and are therefore advised to consider whether any comment, photograph or video they are about to post on a social networking site or app, is something that they would want the children, colleagues and other employees of the centre, their manager or people outside the centre to read.
