Office holiday parties and online shopping for family members are not excuses for regrettable social media posts and cyber breaches. Stay alert and protect not only your personal identity but your professional reputation during this festive season!
Keep up with trends but make it business appropriate and aligned with your company brand.
Perhaps years ago, your employees were simply forbidden from using your company’s social media profile to post personal comments, photos or videos. But these days, younger employees use social media every day to reach, connect and engage with potential new business. Don’t miss out on this opportunity and risk being branded as stale.
Social media posts in our legal profession cover a wide range of topics on amendments to civil procedure rules, being overworked, or congratulating newly admitted attorneys. Some social media posts feature an employee’s workspace, while others share recordings of sensitive conversations on client wins, mediations or screenshots of a judge’s ruling. Some posts are photos of attorneys in attendance of professional association events. Most posts are meant to be supportive, educational, funny or ironic. Some attract comments from lawyers or paralegals with similar experiences, and this is another area where ethical violations may come into play. Professional platforms like LinkedIn are now flooded with casual, personal posts about family and hobbies outside of work.
Have social media and IT policies, train everyone in your office and set expectations.
Your employees need to understand that the Facebook post or TikTok video they are making with client files in the background, or talking, even vaguely about something crazy that just happened in a case, could reveal sensitive or even privileged information, and expose your firm to ethical trouble, sanctions or even damages, not to mention reputational harm. This is especially true for your employees that work remotely. Keep them in the loop of your social media and IT expectations as well.
Don’t let people use business computers for personal use.
No one should be ordering family Christmas presents at the office or on their company-issued laptop at home.
Planning to host an after-hours company party?
Lock your computer monitor, office drawers and all devices when not in use. Remove sensitive items from desktops, dry erase and bulletin boards. Lock up purses and computer bags. File and properly store printed documents and files, including notebooks and sticky notes. Do not leave flash drives lying around.
Don’t just throw sensitive documents in the trash.
Use your company shredder.
Everyone deserves to unwind a little after working so hard all year. But it’s never okay to completely let your guard down. Employees need to know that confidentiality policies apply when they share content (even inadvertently). Sensitive personal, firm and client information should not be visible in the background of a social media post or cocktail party.
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