Periodically, we ask three HR managers how they’d handle a difficult situation at work. Today’s problem: Employees are saying negative things about the company on the Internet.
The scene
Supervisor Dave McGrogran stuck his head into HR manager Mark Burgess’ office.
“Hey, Mark,” said Dave. “Been surfing the ‘Net lately?”
“Checking the job boards, Googling a few applicants,” said Mark. “Just the usual. Why do you ask?”
“Because everybody else seems to be looking at a blog aimed at the company. There’s some not-real-flattering stuff on there.”
“What’s the URL?” asked Mark, turning to his computer.
‘This stuff could hurt us’
Mark’s face reddened as he scanned the blog. “A lot of this stuff is flat-out lies. It could really hurt our image,” he said.
“Listen to what Sam Hodgins in Operations wrote: ‘Management could care less about employees — if it comes down to a long-term employee and an extra buck, the extra buck wins every time.’ Man, that’s brutal.”
“This looks pretty serious to me,” said Dave. “What are we gonna do?”
“Not sure,” said Mark, “but whatever it is, we better do it quickly.”
What HR pros would do
Jim, HR manager, Dallas
What Jim would do: Step One would be to bring in the people who made the comments and ask them to share their concerns with us. Obviously, there’s a reason they haven’t felt able to tell us about these things directly, so we need to address that problem.
Reason: If our people have problems, we want to address them as directly as possible. We’d handle the public relations problem as a separate issue.
Laura, HR manager, New York
What Laura would do: The first thing I’d do is remind employees about our Internet policy. Going on this kind of site during company time certainly violates our rules.
Then I’d speak to the employees who posted comments to find out why they hadn’t expressed their thoughts through the proper channels.
Reason: We can only control what employees do in the office, and people may be visiting the blog from home. But they’ve also signed employment agreements, and it’s likely this kind of activity would be prohibited.
Len, HR director, Malvern, PA
What Len would do: Of course, I’d try to find out who was behind the blog, and contact them if I could. I’d like to know what their motive was. As for the current employees being quoted, I’d bring them in and make it clear such a blog isn’t an appropriate forum for their concerns.
Reason: We have procedures in place to address employees’ problems. They need to follow those procedures. After all, how can a complaint on a blog be handled positively? We can’t solve problems we don’t know about.
