The research, primarily undertaken across the food industry by legal firm Roythornes, asked members of the Fresh Produce Forum, the British Frozen Food Federation and the Food & Drink Forum about use of social media in the workplace.
It reveals that while over 40% of firms allow staff to bring their devices to work, 70% set no controls in terms of what they can do with them. Despite a previous survey by Acas finding that 55% of employees accessed social media while at work, with 16% saying they spent over 30 minutes a day on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
This could expose the organisations to expensive risks such as data theft and viruses, as well as productivity and damage to their reputation.
Despite this, only half (51.5%) of the businesses questioned have some form of social media policy for their employees, and 64% take no steps to monitor the use of social media among their employees.
Commenting on the results, the head of Roythornes’ food and drink team Peter Bennett said: “There is an increasing trend for employees to bring their own mobile devices to work. While many employers are starting to allow this, the majority haven’t established controls for managing the very real risk of damage to their organisation in terms of lost productivity and reputational damage.
“If there is one message the research tells us it is that some organisations appear to be at real risk of damage to their business, their systems or their reputation if they do not ‘grasp the nettle’ of social media in the workplace.”
He added: “All organisations should consider implementing a social media policy. Without ground rules in place, there is nothing to gauge employees’ use or abuse of social media in the workplace. Many of those firms who do not currently have a policy are considering it, or are aware that they should have one. How strict the policy is depends on the organisation, but some form of guidelines should be in place.”
Roythornes, which has been a leading advisor to the food industry for more than 75 years, is advising clients to invest in affordable technology to monitor the usage of the internet on network computers.
Bennett added: “If you monitor your employees’ use of the internet and emails, you must let them know. This can easily be done as part of the daily login process.
“If policies do not place an outright ban on social media, they may contain a ‘fair use’ clause. What is ‘fair use’ is a subjective measure, but at the very least it puts a safety net in place for the business should problems arise.”
Legal firm Roythornes is one of the leading advisors to the UK food industry.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024