This presentation by Employsure provides an overview of social media in the workplace. It is designed to help employers understand their rights and obligations. In this presentation, employers can learn about: - Social media in recruiting - Social media and bullying - How to create a social media policy With one of the most complex workplace relations systems in the world it's a challenge for owners and managers of SMEs in Australia to ensure they are compliant. Small businesses often struggle to understand their obligations to employees and that's where Employsure can help. Employsure protects employers from risks by providing unlimited advice, legally compliant documents, insurance and representation. Employsure is a workplace relations specialist dedicated to helping small businesses succeed by creating fair and safe workplaces. Call us: 1300 651 415 Visit us at: https://employsure.com.au/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/empl... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/employsure.c... Twitter: https://twitter.com/Employsure

2. Social media in the workplace
This presentation covers some important topics
about social media in the workplace. For more
detailed information about your obligations as
an employer, visit Employsure.
Topics covered:
• Social media and recruitment
• Social media and bullying
• How to crease a social media policy

3. Social media and recruitment
Q- Is it illegal for employers to look at a job applicant’s social media
sites?
A- Simply looking at a candidate’s online profile is NOT unlawful.
however
• Employers should proceed with caution because equal
opportunity legislation prohibits discrimination, and this extends
to the hiring process.
• If an employer discriminates against an employee based on
information sourced from social media sites, they can be
investigated.

4. Discrimination in hiring
It is illegal to discriminate against someone due to:
• race or skin colour
• sex or sexual orientation
• age
• physical or mental disability
• marital status
• family or carer’s responsibilities
• pregnancy
• religion or political opinion
• nationality

5. Discrimination in hiring
Case study
1. An employer interviewed a woman for a role at their company
2. The employer looked at her Facebook profile and saw a post
announcing the candidate’s pregnancy
3. The woman was not successful in securing the role
The woman could argue that she was not offered the role due to
her pregnancy, and was therefore discriminated against.
Was she discriminated against based on her pregnancy?

6. Discrimination in hiring
• Although most employers view social media profiles
during the recruitment process, and in some cases recruit
through social media, there are no specific rules to follow.
• The potential for disputes and misuse is high.
Solution
• To avoid challenges, employers should make applicants
aware at an early stage that these searches may occur
during the recruitment process, and that information may
be collected from these sites.

7. Tips for using social media in recruitment
Employsure recommends the following guidelines for employers who want to
carry out prospective employee searches:
• Take reasonable steps to check the accuracy of
information obtained online.
• Distinguish between social media for private and
professional use – information
obtained from a professional LinkedIn site will be
more suitable to assess the applicant than
information on a private Facebook page.

8. Tips for using social media in recruitment
• Only use social media searches to look at specific
information rather than just a general fishing
exercise. Information to be looked at and collected
should relate to the applicant’s suitability for the
role, personal capabilities, skills, education and
experience.
• Applicants should be given an opportunity to
respond to material found online when it is being
used as part of the hiring decision-making
process.

9. Social media and bullying
Bullying at work occurs when:
• A person or a group of people repeatedly behave
unreasonably toward a worker of a group of workers
at work.
and
• The behaviour creates a risk to health and safety.

10. What is considered bullying?
Bullying behaviour may involve any of the following:
• aggressive or intimidating conduct
• belittling or humiliating comments
• spreading malicious rumours
• teasing, practical jokes or ‘initiation ceremonies’
• exclusion from work-related events
• unreasonable work expectations, including too much or too little
work, or work below or beyond a worker’s skill level
• displaying offensive material
• pressure to behave in an inappropriate manner

11. Social media bullying
• Bullying behaviour may occur physically in the
workplace – or online.
• Workplace bullying often occurs through social
media.
• Bullying claims can still be made if the bullying
occurred while an employee was not at work but
in a work environment – such as the lunch room
or a work related social function.

12. Employer obligations
• Under work health and safety legislation, employers
have a duty to provide workers with a safe workplace.
• Social media bullying poses a risk to worker health and
safety, and therefore employers need to respond quickly
and appropriately to any bullying issues that are raised.
• Employers also need to take proactive steps to prevent
or minimise the risks posed by social media bullying.
• At a minimum, this should include having a bullying and
harassment policy in place that clearly sets out
behaviour expectations.

13. How to create a social media policy
In addition to a workplace anti-bullying policy, every workplace should
have a social media policy, and it should be communicated to all staff.
What to include in a policy:
• agreement that the employer, another employee or client are not
to be mentioned or identified on employee social media accounts
• no use of social media on work devices, or during work hours
• penalties for breaching the policy, and whether a breach of the
policy constitutes serious misconduct
• clear guidelines for the use of the employer’s social media for
work duties
• consequences for non-compliance

14. Investigate, train and enforce
• After a policy has been put in place, ensure all
employees read and sign the policy, and that they
are aware of the consequences for not adhering
to it.
• Train employees and managers on how to
behave according to the guidelines, and ensure
all complaints of bullying are investigated.
• Enforce the policy fairly throughout the workplace.