Learning to be had from Lineker saga says law firm

HR and employment law firm Precept believes companies should be looking to give their social media policies a spring clean in the wake of the Gary Lineker/BBC saga.

The BBC has launched an independent review of its social media guidelines following the boycott by sports presenters, which led to Match of the Day looking very different when it aired a few weeks’ ago.

A tweet by Lineker on Twitter led to him being asked to step back from hosting Match of the Day.

He has since returned to the MOTD hot-seat but, according to Emma Tice, head of Precept – there are lessons for us all to take from the very public saga.

Emma, who has recently led a rebrand for the Derby company, who regularly review and update company social media policies, said: “Football may be the national game and Gary Lineker may be considered a national treasure, but you don’t want to play the lottery with your social media policy at work.

“I’m not a huge fan of football at the best of times, but what this whole issue has done is placed the spotlight on the impact that social media can have on your business – the good, the bad and the ugly.

“Having a robust and up to date social media policy is key – and now is the perfect time to give yours a make-over.

“Social media has been around for years now but, unfortunately so have many company social media policies, and while the policy has stood still, unchanged, social media has changed beyond all recognition and is now as much a part of everyday life as brushing your teeth.

“Ensure that you are raising awareness in the workplace about what is and what is not acceptable use of social media.

“Commonly employees behave on business-related social media, such as LinkedIn. However, they can forget any associations with the business on their personal accounts, such as Facebook and Instagram. Your policy needs to cover both.

“Things like defamatory comments about the business, bullying of staff and other comments and remarks that may damage the reputation of the company all need to be carefully set out to employees – both in writing and in a refresh sessions, as well as the consequences for them if they do break the rules.”