Social Media + Compliance = HR Nightmare

When does a Tweet mean something more than an innocent update? When you work at financial or healthcare-related workplace.

As you may have heard, the SEC is lurking, HIPAA laws are getting government workers fired and HR staff everywhere is getting increasingly worried about litigation in relation to social media.

In a recent SmartMoney article, the author scares readers by considering Twitter to be “ripe” for pump and dump schemes causing unnecessary fear by those who probably don’t use social networks to begin with:

The SEC says it has no investigations on record related to Twitter posts. But the site’s format makes it ripe for hype, especially when it comes to so-called penny stocks—cheap stocks that are prone to volatile price swings. Take the example of Atlantic Wind & Solar. The commentator who said it was “going kaboom” went on to recommend the stock 25 times in two weeks, during which time its price more than doubled, to $4.60.

Can you imagine if one of your co-workers was giving this advice or innocently retweeting it to friends?

That said, Twitter correlation does not mean causation. Fraudsters have used cold-calling, email and word-of-mouth strategies to hype penny stocks for years (ever see Boiler Room?), so I have a hard time believing Twitter (or INSERT RANDOM SOCIAL SITE) is at fault here.

In reality, people probably shouldn’t be taking advice from people they don’t trust or don’t have a track record of being objective, however, in this litigious society employers and marketers need to be proactive.

1. Train your staff – Consider the amount of Americans using social media these days (especially Facebook) is growing, updates on any social networks are potential landmines. Let them know how and when they should be using social media during the work day. Even the smallest of financial or medical advice from employees can put your company at risk.
2. Develop a social media policy – After letting your staff know, develop a formal social media policy that is in compliance with current laws and integrate the policy into all HR-related programs. Telling staff is one thing, having a policy is another.
3. Don’t overreact – Banning social media completely may seem easier than developing policies or training staff, however, the statistics show that people are increasingly using social media via their smartphones. Good luck monitoring that.

Have questions about how your company can utilize social media? Contact us today.