Human Resources Guide to Social Media in the Workplace: A Canadian Perspective

Didier Dubois, Emilie Pelletier, Katherine Poirier

When social media first arrived on the scene over a decade ago, employers were understandably concerned with issues surrounding social media use in the workplace. These issues included the potential for negative impacts on employee productivity and the use of company time and resources for accessing social networks, as well as concerns relating to the disclosure of confidential information and negative, disparaging, or hateful comments made about the organization or its stakeholders. While these issues and concerns remain, we now recognize that social media is here to stay and the focus has shifted from attempting to limit employees use of social media to an approach focused on ensuring that use is appropriate and leveraging social media for business purposes. At the same time, the distinction between employees work and social lives is becoming increasingly blurred, and employers find they need help and guidance to develop appropriate policies governing social media use in the workplace.

Human Resources Guide to Social Media in the Workplace: A Canadian Perspective is a practical guide that provides practitioners (especially in human resources, marketing, and communications, as well as employment lawyers and in-house counsel) with guidance in managing the use of social media in the workplace and drafting effective employment policies. Through concrete examples and illustrations derived from case law across Canada, this book provides information on the risks relating to the use of social media and the Internet in general in an organizational context. It also covers the legislative framework and provides practical guidance and information on best practices for managing social media in the workplace. The book covers issues such as the explosion in the use of social media, the proliferation of mobile devices and apps, big data, privacy and confidentiality, non-solicitation agreements, online reputation management, blogging, social media use for business purposes, social media policies, the role of various stakeholders, managing comments from third parties, avoiding conflicts of interest, managing off-duty conduct, and emerging discussions surrounding work/life balance and the right to disconnect after hours.