Preserving Company Culture Except When You Shouldn’t

Did you ever have an employee post a status update from his termination meeting with HR?

I wrote about it a few years ago.  It seemed shocking then, and if anything, we’ve only seemed to be shocked more and more as each new tweet or blog post gets distributed with some outrageous behavior from an employee (or sometimes an employer!).

It used to be that companies would have weeks, if not days, to respond to publicity.  Now, it’s hours or even minutes.

Companies want to preserve their culture and reputation — and their corresponding products and services — more than ever. One misstep can get the online outrage machine going.  heck, even McDonalds’ got into a online snafu when it released (and then promptly sold out of) a unique retro szechuan sauce.

This Thursday, my colleague Jarad Lucan and I will be talking about these issues at our annual Labor & Employment Fall Seminar.  It’s nearly sold out, but you can still see about registering here.

The program session is entitled: Culture Shock: Preserving and Protecting Your Company’s Culture and Reputation in the Digital Age.

And the description is as follows:

In today’s social-media-obsessed digital age, your company and its culture may be put on display for the world to see in mere moments. Whether it’s a Google engineer’s memo claiming gender differences, the sexual harassment scandals at Fox News or the Weinstein Companies, social media rants by employees, or employees participating in hate riots, it has never been more incumbent upon employers to address these issues immediately and appropriately. This session will review state and federal laws and provide employers with steps they can take to create and foster positive company culture and mitigate legal risks.

Of course, it goes without saying that some cultures that have been exposed to the harsh light of social media deserve to be discarded.  Over 20 employees were dismissed at Uber following a detailed sexual harassment investigation into some 215 claims.

Come join us this Thursday and hear about other stories of employees (and employers) behaving badly online and elsewhere.

 

The post Preserving Company Culture Except When You Shouldn’t appeared first on Connecticut Employment Law Blog.