CONFIDENTIALITY COMPANY GUIDELINES SOCIAL MEDIA
Singapore - With social media becoming more prevalent today, employers in Singapore are setting specific guidelines on using using such space to prevent employees from breaching existing codes of ethics or business rules.
Many government agencies and multinational companies say they have digital media guidelines in employee handbooks, on the company intranet, or in refresher courses.
At Dell, employees are warned at annual business practice updates against talking about upcoming products or slam the competition in any medium.
Civil service workers must also get permission from the ministries' permanent secretaries or corporate communications departments before talking about work-related matters, reports The Straits Times. Similarly, professionals like doctors and accountants are required to maintain patient or client confidentiality even if the ethics are not spelt out in black and white.
"As long as staff commit to their deliverables, maintain client confidentiality and be mindful of what is being posted online, we are generally flexible on their internet usage," says Deborah Ong, human capital partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
At Singapore Airlines, staff must seek permission before publishing articles or giving out information pertaining to their work. They have also counselled staff for breaking regulations, with the penalty depending on the severity of the case.
Social media can directly affect a company's reputation and image, says Juliana Ong, a senior lecturer in human resources management with the psychology programme at Singapore Polytechnic. "It's necessary to set guidelines so all employees are aware of a company's expectations of its staff's behaviour."
These guidelines also protect employees from "unknowingly infringing confidentiality issues", adds Philomena Lee, a section head and lecturer of human resources at Temasek Polytechnic.
________________________________________________________
More quality Lighthouse titles
Get your marketing department up to speed with Asia's most read marketing site
marketing-interactive.com
Want to get on the right side of the procurement department?
Direct them to Procurement Asia
