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QUESTION: Do other agencies have formal policies addressing staff "friending" clients on Facebook or other social media sites? If so, would anyone be willing to share? We have a social media policy that prohibits posting photographs, opinions, or other information about persons served by the agency, but we do not prohibit person served and employees from friending each other on social media. Online social media, such as blogs, social networks, professional networks, and social bookmarking sites, have become increasingly popular. This policy pertains to employee use of such media as it relates to the Agency and the Agency’s consumers. Employees are prohibited from using Agency computers and electronic systems for participating in personal social media as such systems are the property of the Company. As well, employees are not permitted to engage in violations of Company policy or the law in their social media activities. As such, employees must refrain from disclosing any Company confidential, trade secret, or insider information at any time; engaging in sexual or other unlawful harassment; violating the Company’s intellectual property rights; making discriminatory, defamatory, libelous, or slanderous statements in discussing the Company, supervision and management, co-workers, competitors, consumers of the Agency services, and vendors; or engaging in other violations of Company policy or the law. Further, employees should ensure that they do not represent or infer that their opinions or viewpoints are those of the Agency. Agency supervisors are also not permitted to “friending” their employees on social media. The Agency recognizes that employees grow close with the consumers as we serve them. That is natural, and consumers frequently wish to stay in touch with employees. Employees may also wish to keep in touch with consumers they have served. But employees may not “friend” consumers or their family members on social media, as that crosses lines of privacy and professionalism. It is important to remember that even while off-duty employees represent the Company to the public and should strive to preserve the Agency’s reputation and goodwill. Employees are responsible for the content of their postings and may be subject to all appropriate legal and disciplinary action resulting from any unlawful statements or Company-policy violations in their social media and networking activities. This policy shall not be applied to interfere with employees’ rights to discuss their terms and conditions of employment or to otherwise interfere with their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. As job coaches/ ES we do have our clients as friends on facebook. This gives us the opportunity to watch the types of post and pictures that they are using on social media. This is one of the tools we use in training them about negative responses and pictures may be viewed by potential employers and possibly have a negative impact on them becoming employed by this employer. We also use it as a training tool for things not to do that could possibly cause them to be terminated from their employment site. These are all currently big things that have caused issues of for lots of people in the work world and we attempt to explain and train why this is not appropriate behavior. We also can see if there is an issue that could be negatively impacting them in their life and on the job site. Some people don’t tell you everything that is bothering them but you can get a glimpse from the facebook page and start a conversation to get to the root cause. Our Policy is soft on what the question asked – but allows us to hold people accountable to appropriate professionalism without breaching continentality or their rights. We have an electronic communication policy which incorporates this. Statements within this policy include: • Communication regarding our organizations services with clients or their families/guardians/advocates using social networking sites is prohibited. Other communication using these platforms is discouraged. • Staff should compartmentalize their contacts on social networking sites whenever possible to ensure clients view only appropriate information, comments, photos and videos of themselves. Most social networking sites have built in privacy mechanisms to control this. If you need assistance in setting up privacy controls, please check with the IT Department to see if they have instructions for the site you use. This information is a compilation of suggestions, ideas, and opinions shared by INARF Members in response to the featured question. This information should not be considered official interpretation or guidance of State or Federal Policy. Additionally, statements within this document do not necessarily reflect an official position or opinion of INARF.
QUESTION: Do other agencies have formal policies addressing staff "friending" clients on Facebook or other social media sites? If so, would anyone be willing to share?