Nancy Flynn of The International Association of Online Communications wrote an article mid-December of last year regarding tips for effective blog policies when it comes to Employers and their employees who blog. Although it was written several months ago, the tips are still very relevant to what is going on in the blogosphere and workplace today.
1. Establish written policy governing your organization.
According to the 2006 Workplace E-mail, IM & Blog Survey from American Management Association, www.amanet.org, and The ePolicy Institute, www.epolicyinstitute.com, 7% of companies have policy in place to control employees' blog use and content.
2. Establish a policy governing employees' personal blog use.
AMA/ePolicy Institute research reveals that 7% of organizations have established rules governing the content employees may post on their personal home-based blogs. Make sure your employees understand that all of the companies rules and policies (language and content, ethics, confidentiality, harassment/discrimination, etc.) apply--regardless of whether they are blogging during business hours or on their own time and equipment.
3. Guard personal and professional secrets.
Enforce rules banning the posting of confidential information on business blogs and employees' personal blogs. Do not allow employee-bloggers to embarrass or otherwise harm the company. Make sure employees understand what information the organization considers confidential, proprietary, intellectual property, trade secret, etc.
4. Prohibit anonymous blogging.
Don't allow employees to post anonymously by using pseudonyms or fake screen names. Anonymity may tempt some people to write offensive, irresponsible or defamatory comments. On business blogs, employees should identify themselves as company employees. If employees write about the company on personal blogs (with management's permission) they should make clear their affiliation with the company--and add a disclaimer that the blogger's comments are her own, and are not necessarily shared by the company.
5. Require employee-bloggers to formally acknowledge blog rules and policy.
Require all employees to sign and date a written acknowledgment form, confirming that they have read the policy, understand it, and agree to comply with it or risk disciplinary action, up to and including termination. In the event of a lawsuit, you may need these signed acknowledgments to confirm that the company takes blog policy and employee compliance seriously.
Ms. Flynn also has 2 other tips in her article that are worth reading. You can find it at the ICAOC Blog.
Have any tips to add? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by Shannon Nelson on August 17, 2007 6:31 AM
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