Human Resource professionals are faced with many challenges
each day. But one of the most intriguing
challenges, with no easy solution, is
how the decisionmaking process in employee relations complaint investigations
is affected by the rise of social media and instantaneous sharing of all manner
of information.
In the past, organizations simply believed that they could
keep employee relations issues under wraps and handle them delicately, “in
house,” without much fuss. Now,
organizations have to be prepared to respond quickly and appropriately when a
complaint arises, and to anticipate the possibility that the workplace can be
polarized not only by conversation and even gossip within the workplace, but in
the public arena. Their actions are now
under a public microscope.
So now organizations are caught between a rock and a hard
place. The EEOC tells us that we must
conduct investigations in such a way that it protects the confidentiality of
the complainant. The NLRB tells
organizations that they cannot prohibit employees from talking amongst
themselves about workplace issues. And the
public, knowing little about a situation, will weigh in on social media, sometimes
creating massive difficulties for the organization, as happened in the
#DeleteUber campaign and social media uproar over Susan Fowler’s public
complaint of harassment and inaction.
Consider how Uber reacted to Fowler. It was not necessarily a bad reaction. On the same day Fowler’s allegations were
posted, the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, responded on Twitter, noting that the
behavior she described was “abhorrent” and “against everything we believe in.”
That probably seemed like a very strong statement opposing harassment, and
Kalanick may have assumed that this would stem the tide of any negative
publicity, particularly since he also indicated that he was unaware of the
behavior prior to the posting, and would launch an immediate investigation. The post was made on a Sunday, Kalanick’s
first response was the same day, and by Monday Uber was reinforcing the
extensive investigation and calling an “all hands” meeting for Tuesday. But even these efforts did not eliminate the
uproar, as many, many people, both at Uber and other organizations, weighed in
with their own stories of harassment.
The story went viral and Uber’s reputation was damaged, perhaps
irreparably. Susan Fowler then became a spokesperson for all things Uber,
ultimately being asked for her comment on every action that Uber took,
including the results of the investigation launched and its recommendations,
all of which were made public. (Fowler’s
response, predictably, was that Uber’s response and proposed action was “all
optics” and her Twitter comment indicated “they’ll never apologize. I’ve gotten
nothing but aggressive hostility from them.”)[i]
What will prevent your next harassment case from appearing
in social media, with a less-than-favorable view of your organization? One
thing you CANNOT do: prohibit employees from discussing their working
conditions on social media. So what can
you do?
Organizations have to become crisis communicators, and invoke
strategies whenever allegations first surface.
Not only does the organization need to launch an immediate
investigation, but leaders must also be prepared to make public statements, to
the extent possible, outlining their leadership philosophy and their
response. And leaders need to be prepared
to do this at the speed of Twitter. When
you learn of a negative posting that seems to be catching steam, how long does
it take for an official statement? If
the answer is three-five hours, that may be too long. Things you can do now:
As I have been advocating all along, you need to be very clear on your organization’s and your leader’s approaches to harassment allegations and discrimination. If you talk the talk, you must walk the walk. If you have worked hard on your systems and your culture, you can easily use that culture to show how you take allegations seriously and will respond promptly and appropriately.
As I have been advocating all along, you need to be very clear on your organization’s and your leader’s approaches to harassment allegations and discrimination. If you talk the talk, you must walk the walk. If you have worked hard on your systems and your culture, you can easily use that culture to show how you take allegations seriously and will respond promptly and appropriately.
- You can prepare sample statements that address any number of employee conduct issues that you might foresee appearing on social media. Than you can respond more quickly.
- You can make sure all of your leaders know social media platforms and what they can do, and are prepared to engage those platforms when necessary, taking ownership and leadership of any employee relations issues.
- You can review your confidentiality policies and processes when it comes to allegations of discrimination and harassment. Is it a blanket statement that everything will be confidential? Or does it allow for flexibility? Does it provide discipline for those who violate it (probably not a good idea!)? Who does it protect? If it is designed to protect the alleged victim, and s/he waives that protection by publicizing allegations, is it appropriate for the organization to also make public statements? Is the confidentiality provision designed to protect the reputation of the accused? How will that protection play on social media, ie, will it appear to be protective of the accused? Fox News initially responded to allegations of harassment by defending the accused & dismissing the allegations, and that did not go over well, as it added further flame to the idea that Fox was defensive and refused to admit harassment was occurring.[ii]
The Boy Scout motto is probably best here: Be prepared!
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