Using social media to share employment concerns

I am starting a new category on my site with this post. These posts, categorized “Workplace Encounters”, will be based on real time workplace encounters.

 It’s the time of the year when you are feeling most productive and committed, the appraisal time.  The very thought of what your appraisal rating holds is exciting you. And then the surprise unfolds, but not a pleasant one this time,… your rating and raise doesn’t meet your expectation. What would you do now? A similar incident happened a few months back when one of my employee approached me to discuss his dissatisfaction over appraisal. His concern was well received and responded (though his monetary expectations were not met) but not contended with the response, here’s what that employee did over the next few days…he wrote a complaining e-mail to his TAC lead and Manager, updated his LinkedIn profile stating he is actively looking for job and also posted his concern on employee forums…he seemed well prepared to leave.  A question that interests me here is ..Is it OK to use social media to share your discontentment with your employer? Though, different people might hold different opinion on this, as per my understanding, a rational answer to this is “NO”.

For employees, while it’s your right to reach out to your employer for any employment concern and issues, the way you do it matters. Now a day, almost every employer keeps an eye on its employee’s social media activities. Making unprofessional remarks and updates on social networking sites will do more harm than good. It makes your employer suspicious about your work commitment. From an efficient team member, you turn to the one who is now less trusted when it is comes to sharing critical responsibilities and information. Contrary to your expectation, your HR and Manger might not make any effort to retain you, when you actually leave. Remember, these are the people whose details you might need to share in your future employments.

For HR pros, though HR does not own the sole responsibility for making important decisions concerning employees, we have to deal with their dissatisfaction and concerns. While employees today are very professional in the way they conduct themselves on social networking sites and media, such unpleasant situations can happen at times. So why not be a little extra careful while dealing with such critical incidents. There are times when all employee demand can’t be catered, for the others, try providing employees with alternative and feasible solutions. Being attentive to your employees concern keeps them connected to their job and the employer.

If you have come across similar workplace situations, you are welcome to share them here..