A third of bloggers write posts they regret [BT broadband office]

A third of bloggers write posts they regret

Posted 1 June 2007 at 10:16AM by Simon Dickson in Business blogging

Business advisors Croner have warned bloggers to think hard before ranting about a bad day at the office. More than a third of bloggers questioned in a YouGov survey admitted to having written something which could be potentially sensitive or damaging about their place of work, employer or a colleague.

As blogging begins to take off in the UK, Croner is recommending that companies think about the potential impact it may have on their business. 'In the 1990s, when emails were introduced as a new means of communication, employees were lulled into a false sense of security by the informality that this type of communication brings,' recalls Croner's Gillian Dowling. 'It was common to train staff on the use of emails which included advising employees not to send inappropriately worded emails in haste.' She reckons bloggers can fall into the same false sense of security when stress levels rise, and spleens are vented. 'If there is a negative impact on the organisation's corporate image which is so serious that it breaches the implied term of mutual trust and confidence,' she explains, 'the employee could be dismissed for gross misconduct.'

Gillian's recommendations include reviewing existing policies on internet use and external communication, to include specific references to blogs and other related online developments. She also suggests that companies might channel eager bloggers' energies into an official company blog: if you know your comments are going to appear on a company website, it rather than a private (and possibly anonymous) platform like Blogger or WordPress, it might encourage a greater feeling of responsibility.

Tags: blogger, blogging, business blogging, croner, gross misconduct, policy, wordpress

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Comments

1. At June 1, 2007 2:49 PM, Roy wrote:

So in other words, bad management, abuse of power and position, abuse of clients and a host of other shady practices previously unknown to the employees, general public and some companies clients can now be covered up by introducing a company policy on what you can blog.
Sorry; but some companies deserve to have a negative impact on their image. A good example being that of banks who have ripped customers off for years with charges and made sure if any staff let on about it they'd be looking for new jobs, and definitely NOT in the banking sector.
For "...if you know your comments are going to appear on a company website, rather than a private (and possibly anonymous) platform like Blogger or WordPress, it might encourage a greater feeling of responsibility.".... read, you won't write it in the first place because you know your boss will see it. No matter how inept he is at his job, or how much he uses his position to abuse client trust or bully his workers, the impact would now be the same as reporting him to his superiors; the ones who put him in that position in the first place. Guess who'll be getting a ticking off and who'll be searching the job ads.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favour of employees having a rant because they got out of bed the wrong side or because they're not capable of doing their own job properly, but in far too many companies the so called 'implied term of mutual trust and confidence' only runs one way. If a shot of negative blogging gives them the kick up the pants they need to put their house in order then surely allowing bad practices and poor management to fester under the censorship of 'company policy' is not the way to go.

2. At June 2, 2007 9:13 AM, david wrote:

business blogging really is democracy at the workplace and lets people really know what their employees think about their company. there has been far too many company policies and procedures which are merely a method of silencing the workforce.

3. At June 4, 2007 7:49 PM, John wrote:

I can actually lay claim to having been silly enough to post a blog of this nature ... and have been caught!

I work for a major established bank in their home insurance sales call centre. I missed out on an internal job I applied for and decided to vent my anger in a Myspace blog, citing various managers of favouritism and accusing the internal recruitment system of being a farce.

Despite not naming names to any great degree, I was daft enough to mention the name of the company. And what do you know; just a few days later, I was summoned to a fact finding meeting with my line manager as someone had stumbled upon the blog and brought it to senior management's attention.

I would have possibly been looking at a "stage 3 disciplinary", the equivalent of a final written warning. But we'll never know what the outcome would have been as I've since handed in my notice and found another job.

But trust me, the lesson is well learnt; no matter how much work can get you down, keep your innermost thoughts to yourself!

BT broadband office