Workplace Policies and Ethics of Social Media

The outbreak of social media has been a double edged sword for businesses. On one hand, social media can be an excellent marketing tool to help businesses of all sizes grow. But because employees have social media accounts, there is great potential for Public Relations nightmares. Another PR issue is the fast and permanent nature of social media. 

The concern for bad PR over social media is enough to prompt some companies to make policies regarding their employees’ use of social media. The American Institute of Architects (http://www.aia.org/about/AIAB083034) outlines their policy on their website: 

“Being able to share your and the AIA’s activities without prior management approval means the Institute trusts you to understand that by doing so you are accepting a higher level of risk for greater rewards. Each AIA staff member is personally responsible for the content he or she publishes on any form of social media. Be thoughtful about how you present yourself in online social networks.”

It seems pretty vague but I think it stands as an important reminder to employees that what they post online reflects on the company. And in today’s world, where many of the incoming workforce has a strong media presence, these reminders are becoming even more needed.

A study done by Dr. Patricia J. Harned of the Ethics Resource Center (http://mashable.com/2012/03/17/social-media-ethics/) suggested that employees who use social media are more likely to be relaxed in other instances of questionable moral activity. Her findings are shown in the graphic below.

Those statistics would seem a little scary to me as an employer. I would like to think I am just as high ethical standards as an employee who does not use social media but it seems like the lines become a little blurred for social media gurus. 

I think this may be because active social media users are used to the free flow of information. We are exposed to more raw opinions of our peers and colleagues on Twitter and Facebook so we are more accepting of it as an ethical practice. We exchange information and intellectual property, legally or not, more than those who are not actively using social media. It is just interesting to see social media's influence on our ethical standards. 

The Applebee’s Fiasco

Well folks, here’s how I see it: 

Once upon a time, a lonely, bitter old hag of a pastor went to an Applebee’s with some colleagues. Upon receiving the bill, she thought she would be self-righteous and write: "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?" I’m sure she and her stingy buddies had a good laugh at the expense of the waitress.

Things took a turn for the not-so-humorous when Chelsea Welch, a co-worker of the original waitress, snapped a photo of the receipt and posted it on Reddit. Alois Bell, the pastor who wrote the snarky note, was not amused. 

"My heart is really broken," Bell said. Yeah I’m sure it is. And I’m sure she wouldn’t have even thought twice about the note had she not been caught. Classic case of just being sorry because you got caught.

"I've brought embarrassment to my church and ministry," Bell added. Dang right she did. Maybe next time she will act a little more Christ-like in public. Bell also said that the photo being posted online ruined her reputation. And according to heavy.com, Bell reports that people have stopped coming to her sermons because of the incident. Personally, I think she has no one to blame but herself. If that receipt reflects who she truly is, I wouldn’t want her preaching to me.

Am I being a jerk? Maybe. I mean, she probably doesn’t deserve her livelihood being destroyed because of a rude note. 

The other big issue in this story is the fact that Welch was promptly fired upon the photo being reported to Applebee’s by Bell. 

“I just wanted to share a picture I found interesting," Welch said. “I come home exhausted, sore, burnt, dirty and blistered on a good day. And after all that, I can be fired for ‘embarrassing’ someone who directly insults their server on religious grounds.”

This is where I’m torn. I think it’s completely inappropriate that the server posted Bell’s signature online. BUT I also feel like Bell made her bed and now she needs to sleep in it. I see people being rude to servers at restaurants all the time and it’s ridiculous. If you are going to preach love, generosity and kindness in church on Sunday, you should be practicing it everywhere else too.  

“If this person wrote the note, obviously they wanted it seen by someone," Welch said. “I’ve been stiffed on tips before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man used as reasoning."

Servers work their butts off. They add on gratuity with large parties because they often get stiffed at large tables. I was a waitress during high school and I worked hard and got stiffed all the time. And that’s certainly not fair. 

The night that Bell decided to be a jerk, she was paying for a table of well over 20 people. And goodness sakes, its Applebee’s. Can’t you afford an 18% tip?

Now, to the PR side. What a nightmare! Applebee’s seriously could not win in this situation. They pretty much had two options:

a)      Stand by Welch, their waitress, and keep her on as an employee.

b)      Fire Welch and defend the customer.

With option a) they would have faced hell, fire, and brimstone from religious institutions and customers. And with option b) they face criticism from people who feel like Bell deserves what she got for leaving the rude note. From a PR standpoint I think they made the right choice. In order to lose the least amount of customers possible, they needed to defend their customers. It’s just a terrible PR situation for Applebee’s. People were going to be ticked either way. I’m sure there are people that will never eat at Applebee’s again because of this situation. I’m sure they had some new customers because of all the free publicity. But I think they minimized the damages as much as they could. So kudos to the Applebee’s PR team. Hopefully they all take a nice vacation or get a nice bonus or something. And hopefully they quietly give Welch a nice little severance benefit as well.