A 23 year old Durban employee was recently dismissed by his employer after the employee posted a rude comment about his boss on Facebook. Can an employer take action against an employee for the employee’s conduct outside of the work environment? Does  the employee’s right to privacy not prevail and act as a shield against the employer’s right to discipline?

“Employees should know that they cannot bite the hand that feeds them”

Two other employees were also suspended by their respective employers following their exploits on Facebook. A 25 year old Pretoria man was reportedly suspended after posting a comment on his Facebook page about his employer’s alleged laziness. A 25 year old Johannesburg woman was reportedly suspended for promoting a competitor’s product on her profile home page. In all three instances, the employers took a dim view of the employee’s conduct in posting their comments on Facebook.

Facebook is a social phenomenon that has taken world by storm. With increased mobility of employment, many globetrotting (and less fortunate) employees use Facebook as an effective vehicle for staying in touch with friends and family. President Obama is reported to be the most popular person on Facebook. If the President of the United States of America has a page on Facebook, shouldn’t all of us have one? The reports above highlight some of the downsides of ‘Facebooking’ however.

The employer’s right to discipline its workers flows directly from the common law provision of the employment contract. Under the common law, an employee places his or her labour potential at the disposal of the employer in return for remuneration. In doing so, the employee is in a subordinate position and must subject himself or herself to the employer’s control and command. The employer has a corresponding right to issue instruction and expect obedience to all lawful reasonable instructions.

Logically, though, the employer can only control and command those actions of the employee resorting within the employment relationship. What the employee does in his spare time is of no consequences to the employer. The employer can certainly not instruct the employee (and expect compliance) of those aspects that has no bearing on the employee’s employment duties.

Whilst the courts have accepted this principle, the caveat lies in those otherwise private actions of the employee that may impact on the employment relationship with the employer, for instance, if  an off-duty employee makes a defamatory statement in relation to his employer in public, this (otherwise private) action may have a direct bearing on his continued employment with his employer. Certainly, an employer cannot be expected to continue the work relationship with an employee where the latter’s actions are irreconcilable with a healthy employment relationship

But what if it took place outside of working hours or the workplace? The Courts have been willing to accept that a link can arise between the employee’s private actions and the employment relationship. Where the employee, in his private capacity, acts in a manner that negatively impacts on his employer’s business, the employer’s right to fair labour practice may trump the employee’s right to privacy.  The employer may then discipline and even dismiss an employee whose after-hours conduct negatively impacts on the employer’s business.

In Van Zyl vs Opencast Service, the Industrial Court upheld the dismissal of an employee who assaulted his supervisor, in front of another employee, after hours. The Court held that the employee’s actions made a harmonious working relationship intolerable. Thus, although the employee acted outside of the workplace and after working hours, his action still linked back to the employment relationship. In assaulting his supervisor, he damaged the relationship between him and his employer beyond repair. This resulted in the dismissal being held to be fair, not withstanding the fact that it is was an ostensible private act by the employee.

Employees should also remember that they are under a common law obligation to further their employer’s business interest. This means that they may not do anything to destroy harmonious working relations with their employer or colleague. When posting comments on social networking sites such as Facebook, they should remember that potential clients, competitors and colleagues may trawl the internet for information on their suppliers, rival businesses or co-workers. In doing so, it is foreseeable that they may come across information posted by staff. Employees are labouring under a terrible misapprehension if they believe that the information they post on most networking sites are private and cannot have any bearing on their continued employment.

An employee who disrespects his employer in a public forum like Facebook should expect the same treatment as that dished out to a drunken employee shouting obscenities to his boss at the annual Christmas lunch. And an employee who punts the opposition’s business on Facebook or in an e-mail to third parties can face the same wrath as if she went on radio or television, defaming her employer. The employee’s obligation to further his employer’s business interest, or in the course of duty not to do his employer’s business harm, does not keep office hours. Employees should remember that they cannot bite the hand that feeds them.

Technorati Tags: conduct, dismissal, Facebook

You’ve surely heard the old adage, “No pain, no gain.”

While normally applied to physical activities, it can also apply to starting your business in the midst of a recession. There will be pain- but long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term.

Already, there are signs that the freeze of our current economic winter is starting to thaw, and the reality is that six percentage points of decline in GDP is not a 50 % decline- no matter how the media wants to peddle the numbers. It’s time to get over the fact that things are slow and get on with what you need to do now to enjoy the fruits of the economic spring and summer that will be here soon. So why should you focus on the long-term gain of business ownership versus the short –term pain of the current recession? Let me count the ways:

1. Business is still the best wealth- building vehicle ever created.  You could get rich working for someone else, but the numbers are against you. Using the new definition of  “rich” (meaning an annual income of R1 million or more), you could count on one hand the number of actual salaried positions that could pay you that amount of money- and that salary number is typically capped, unless you can tap into a bonus pool. However, running your own business offers you an opportunity to grow your income as much as you possibly can. There are no limits to the types of revenue streams you can develop in your own enterprise, and there are tax advantages you have as an owner that simply aren’t available to you as an employee.

1. Business allows you to leverage your greatest strength- and overcome your most glaring weakness. In running your own company, you’ll soon discover you can’t do it all; you’ll need to develop systems and tools to make everything work. This will force you to think differently about your skills and abilities and how best to set up an environment that is at all times productive, efficient, profitable and systemized.

How do you do it? Learn from the hundreds and thousands of “how to” materials available online, in you library or in your current network of associates and friends. I like to say there are no secrets- just information you don’t know yet. And if your weakness is learning , being accountable to yourself and others or understanding how to sell or get leads through your door- you will soon discover the need to overcome those constraints… or you won’t be in business long.

1. Recessions are short-term. Recoveries are long-term. I often say there is more money made in a down turn than is ever made in a boom- and that’s because the good companies in a recession soak up all the mind share, market share and more importantly, wallet share of weak companies. They also enjoy the “ride” coming out of the down turn, because recoveries historically tend to last four to five times    longer than any recession. In any market economy, the short-term pain is just that: short-term. But the benefits of working out the fundamentals and getting your business model right will give you security and profits for the long-term, and equip you with the learning needed to get “lean and mean” when they cycle slows again.

1. Great successes are often achieved by “doing the opposite.” The is a famous Seinfeld episode where the helpless George decides to do the opposite of what he has always done- and finds it leads him to great success. The fact is, you’ll never get abnormal results by being normal and if we are to use R1 million benchmark again as an example, less than 5%of the population currently makes that kind of money. In the old” bell curve” you probably remember from school-that 5% outlier would be an abnormal result, and the remaining annual incomes would comfortably settle in the middle around the average or median score. To break out of normal and average, you need to do something exceptional that others aren’t doing. Part of that is getting the right mindset is “doom and gloom,” waiting for someone or something to come up with some great solution to solve all economic ills. Decide right now to “do the opposite “- by realizing the only person who can cure your economic illness is you. Then resolve to do everything in your power to start producing “abnormal” results.

1. Business is one of the most creative endeavors you could ever undertake- or attempt to master. People look in awe at artists and what they are able to create. But in some ways, successful business people are far more artistic and creative than most people could ever imagine. Think about it for a minute. Great entrepreneurs take invisible ideas, turn them into tangible products or services, fulfill the needs and desires of their customers, hire and employ tens, dozens or thousands of team members to assist them and live to profit another day. There are few things more purely creative than that. Mastering that process, however, is an entirely different Endeavour. And after more than 30 years in business with some awesome failures, I am still learning, growing, improving and striving to master my craft.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if you start slowly or start big, the key is to start. Get over your hesitation, stop your procrastination and get moving.

Technorati Tags: economic, gain, Long-term

The CEO’s most important job is to groom team members for more responsibility, for leadership roles and simply to do a better job day-to-day. And when times are tough, our people need more from us. That’s especially true when we ask them to take on more duties, swim in uncharted waters and excel at everything. Here’s what you, as the leader, need to do to make sure your next-level leaders achieve:

MAKE TIME.

We know it’s important to have regular meetings with direct reports to give direction and feedback. Yet when we get stretched, it’s often the internal meetings we wipe off our schedules first. Plan to increase your time with employees when you ask them to stretch their skills. Meet at least once a week for an hour and give ad hoc feedback frequently.

FOSTER AN ENVIRONMENT OF FEEDBACK.

Make it part of your company’s culture to give continuous feedback, both positive and negative. If that seems out of reach, at least foster feedback with direct reports and those you mentor. Frame this feedback as a positive: you’re giving these because people more attention because you see that they have what it takes to succeed. Feedback is the ultimate compliment. It means someone cares about your development.

DON ‘T HOLD BACK YOUR PLAN FOR SOMEONE.

If you tell a rising leader that you see unique capabilities in her and have a plan for her growth, it’s much likely that she’ll get there. Let your high potential employees know what is possible for them, and you’ll increase their confidence and success rate.

BE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED.

This is neither a time to manage nor to sit back and see what someone can do. Be clear and specific about what the person needs to do to achieve the goals you’ve set for her. Lay out the vision and skills she must develop, and have her repeat back to you what she heard. You want to avoid misunderstandings at all costs, they waste time and take you off track.

MATCH POTENTIAL LEADERS WITH OTHER MENTORS.

Use you reach to find other performers, inside or outside the company, to act as mentors, modeling other’s behavior is one of the best ways to learn, so encourage your people to find role models. Because the CEO often has a strong network, you cab be a powerful facilitator in this process

INVEST IN TRAINING OR COACHING.

This is what I do for a living, so I’m biased. I’ve seen the enormous demand- and- effects- of leadership development on high potential professionals. It’s much more common, and often has more impact, than corrective coaching. You can contract for a tailored leadership training programme, individual of both. There are also countless management training programmes to which you can send employees.

If forecast are correct, the current economic environment isn’t going to end soon. We will need our people to stretch and grow. There may never be a more critical time to focus on developing your bench strength. Do it, and you’ll emerge even stronger than before.

Technorati Tags: Leadership, mentor, time