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Are employment law attorneys giving misinformation on social media to corporate leaders?

HR consultant and new media strategist Jessica Miller-Merrell, calls out employment lawyers this morning in her post at Social Media Explorer, Employment Law Attorneys & Death by Social Media.

Employment law attorneys who specialize in advising and protecting companies by mitigating risk are misinforming curious corporate leaders about the damages and the negative effect social media can have on organizations.  These legal eagles are advising their clients on the risks of social media without fully understanding how the platforms can be leveraged to protect the organizations they can potential serve.

It’s not the first time per Miller-Merrell.

Flash back to 2007, when attorneys advise that all social media sites be blocked by corporate servers, completely ignoring a much bigger issue.

Not surprising in that it’s not that long ago that 45% of law firms were blocking the use of social media by their employees all together. The use of mobile by lawyers and other law firm professionals has been the easy way around that, but nonetheless many law firms are proudly ‘social media suspect.’

What got Miller-Merrell’s blood boiling was the counsel lawyers were giving HR professionals at last month’s Annual Society for Human Resource Management Conference.

I sat and listened in frustration, anger, and dismay as attorney after attorney advised human resource leaders to continue to avoid social media because of its perceived risk. This perceived risk by attorneys is based on their lack of adoption or understanding of how social media can be used to the organization’s advantage and technologies that can be leveraged.

Blatant ignorance by the majority of attorneys is more than disappointing.  In one session, I listened to an attorney advice HR pros to discourage corporate leaders from “friending” their employees on Facebook. The attorney opened her session by announcing to the group that she had just joined Twitter. She failed to understand the tools, particularly Facebook because otherwise, she would known that by creating lists organizational leaders can friend their employees continuing to create a culture of conversation without fear.  By restricting and customizing the level of access employees have to a manager’s personal profile. Clearly she did not.

The lawyers had no idea of how social media was already being used by employers.

Most outside of the industry are surprised to know that the human resources and recruiting technology industries are extremely advanced in their use of social media and mobile technologies.  Companies like Rypple use social media to increase employee appreciation working with organizations like Facebook.  Or companies like find.ly are developing new technologies based on cloud computing and social media preferences to plot an employee’s future career trajectory.  Thus allowing for companies and recruiters to customize and target their message making the employee engagement experience truly one of a kind.

Technologies like these are the sexy side of human resources leveraging the latest and greatest social media and engagement tools to improve efficiency in hiring and engagement within where work or would like to work.

I’m with Miller-Merrell that it’s up to individual employees who truly understand how social media works and how it can be used for networking, relationship building, and collaborating to show some leadership in their companies. To make a case for social media in your company or your law firm.

I don’t want to paint with a broad brush and say that all employment law attorneys are providing ill-advised counsel to corporate leaders. Connecticut’s Daniel Schwartz, who regularly contributes to the LexBlog Network from his Connecticut Employment  Law Blog provides sound social media counsel.

I presented with Seattle’s Mike Reilly at a Lane Powell seminar on social media for corporate leaders in the Northwest a couple years ago. Reilly’s down to earth practical counsel on social media was excellent. I’m looking forward to Reilly’s joining the LexBlog Network in the next couple months.

I’m sure there are many more employment law attorneys beyond Schwartz and Reilly providing good counsel on social media.

But Miller-Merrell raises the same concerns I have. Do we have employment law lawyers providing advise on social media when the lawyers don’t know what social media is nor have an understanding of the power of social media — for good, not harm?

What do you guys think?

  • http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com Jon Hyman

    Typically speaking, those of us (employment lawyers) who practice social media, understand social media and its respective benefits and risks. Any business taking advice from its employment counsel should vet that attorney by doing a quick Google search to see if the lawyer has an active presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, etc., and in the blogosphere. Most of the doom and gloom is coming from lawyer who do not actively practice what they are preaching.

  • http://www.ctemploymentlawblog.com Dan Schwartz

    Kevin: Thanks for pointing out that I have not been on the bandwagon of attorneys who advise employers to avoid social media. In various posts, I have advocated a much more nuanced approach where employers actually understand social media. In fact, nearly a year ago, I said:
    “What we truly need is some perspective and not a zero-tolerance approach. So, as employers, I suggest ignoring the hype about social media and getting into the nuances. Look at the circumstances of employee use or misuse of social media. Draft your policy to provide you with the flexibility to determine the level of discipline appropriate for a misuse of such a policy. (West Hartford recently enacted a set of guidelines for its school employees if you’re looking for something current.) And don’t throw out your common sense.” Still holds true today.

  • http://www.workplacelegalpost.com Marino Sveinson

    Jessica’s post is excellent. Every social media presentation I have ever given to human resources professionals starts with a discussion about the need for the organization to first decide what its social media culture is going to be. How will it promote social media in the workplace because of the benefits and what will it prohibit.
    One interesting angle we took with a group of senior HR professionals was to team up with a Grade 12 student who spoke for the first 20 minutes about what her generation does with social media like “creeping” on facebook – the audience loved it – then a consultant spoke about benefits of social media in the workplace – and then I closed with a legal discussion about misuse of social media.