This topic isn’t really anything new, but often it takes an employment case gone badly for employers to realise something can be a real issue, or to review their policies.
There has been, according to HR Magazine, a threefold increase in WhatsApp messages being used in Tribunal as evidence. There will be many an employment lawyer who has meticulously prepared a case, begged for as much disclosure as a client can lay their hands on and got lined up ready to defend, only to be confronted by pages and pages of “not so ideal” WhatsApp messages that have been produced by a Claimant.
For information, “not so ideal” is lawyer speak for “this is a disaster”.
The Risks of Using WhatsApp for Work Communications
Where this can get even stickier for employers is where they can be held liable for comments made by employees, on personal devices, on a personal WhatsApp account.
If your employees are routinely using WhatsApp for work communications, or work is conducted via the app — this could be as simple as line managers reaching out to staff on it, issuing instructions or roster information — the channel of communication could well be caught as “work communication”.
This could mean that an employee, when making a subject access request under Data Protection laws, could force disclosure of WhatsApp communication. At worst, where you have employees discussing other employees, or engaging in harassing or bullying behaviour, as an employer you could be liable for the behaviour.
What Should Employers Do? Establishing Clear Rules
So, what do we do? The starting point is rules — what are the rules that you have for your workplace on communications? Are you mandating that communication should only be on approved channels as a starting point? If your policies are silent on what is acceptable, as well as on the parameters of behaviour, you risk that by not “outlawing” it, you become responsible for what happens on those platforms.
Need Help? Consult Our Services
If you need further guidance or require a policy, don’t hesitate to reach out for a conversation about our legal services, or for a demo of our employment software. With a custom policy generator, we can help you introduce and communicate new policies efficiently, easily, and make them trackable.