Managing Workplace Negativity

Negativity and Blogging

June 27 2006 - One of the easiest ways for disgruntled employees to turn negativity into a dangerous weapon is to create a weblog or 'blog'. Blogs can be created without any need for technical ability and there are several free providers. Bloggers do not need to understand website coding, register their own domains or pay for hosting. In essence, blogs are personal online journals that are sometimes turned into 'electronic soapboxes' with the option of inviting comments from viewers to whip up more discord. This offers an easy opportunity for causing mischief, if not mayhem.

A survey by the Employment Law Alliance earlier this year found that 5 per cent of American workers maintain a blog - and 16 per cent of bloggers admitted to having posted something negative about an employer, supervisor or colleague. The Employment Law Alliance calculated that in a company with 120 employees, there is likely to be at least one employee making negative blog comments about the organization or its employees.

Despite the potentially harmful effect on employee morale and an organization's reputation, the survey found that only 15 per cent of employers had specific policies about work-related blogging. The Employment Law Alliance considers that employers should have rules on blogging in their employee handbooks, just as most have addressed email and internet use. Employers cannot prevent workers from blogging in their own time, but they can attempt to restrict work-related content and blogging activity during working hours.

The survey found that 62 per cent of U.S. employers with blogging policies prohibited any employer related information - good or bad - being posted on a blog. 60 per cent of surveyed employees believed that employers should have the right to discipline or dismiss employees who posted confidential, damaging or embarrassing information about their employer on their personal blog.

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