1. Introduction
The purpose of this policy is to set out the standards of behaviour which Genting Casinos UK Ltd (‘The Company’) expects of its’ employees in their use of social media sites; and to provide guidance on how to use such sites responsibly whether within or outside of the workplace in order to minimise risks to both individual employees and the business, such as (but not limited to):
• Allegations of bullying and harassment
• Allegations of discrimination
• Damage to the Company’s brand (bringing the Company into disrepute)
• Criminal sanctions
1.1 What is Social Media?
For the purposes of this policy, Social Media means any type of interactive online media that allows parties to communicate instantly with each other or to share data in a public forum. This includes, but is not limited to, online social forums such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ as well as blogs, wikis, video and image sharing sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Instagram.
There are many examples of Social Media and this area is constantly changing; therefore this policy applies to any social media that employees use now or in the future.
1.2 Scope of the Policy
This policy covers all individuals working for the Company at all levels and grades, including senior managers, officers, directors, employees, contractors, trainees, homeworkers, part-time and fixed-term employees and agency staff collectively referred to (for the purposes of this policy only) as employees.
As employees’ behaviour online can expose the Company to risks even when they are using social media for personal purposes, this policy applies to all social media activity, whether work related or personal, whether undertaken during working hours or otherwise, and whether the Company’s or an employee’s personal IT equipment is used.
To minimise the risks associated with social media, to avoid loss of productivity and to ensure that the Company's IT resources and communication systems are used appropriately, employees are expected to adhere to the terms of this policy. The Company also encourages employees to use their judgement when choosing to use social media, to read the social media site's terms and conditions and adhere to them, and to post sensibly and responsibly in accordance with the Company's social media guidelines.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Company’s policies on:
• Data Protection
• Discipline
• Grievance
• Bullying and harassment
This policy does not form part of the contract of employment. However, employees are expected to have regard to the policy at all times to protect the Company's business interests which may be adversely affected by inappropriate activity on a social media site.
Any breach of this policy may be dealt with under the Company’s disciplinary procedure and in serious cases may be treated as gross misconduct and result in summary dismissal.
2. Use of Social Media sites during working hours
During working hours employees are permitted to make reasonable use of social media websites during rest breaks, either using the Company’s IT resources or using the employee’s own computer or device, provided that this does not interfere with the proper performance of their duties or the operation of the Company’s business and/or IT systems. Social media activity that is deemed by the Company to be excessive during working hours may place the employee at risk of disciplinary action.
3. Personal Social Media accounts
Employees are required to comply with the following requirements in respect of their personal social media accounts:
3.1 A personal social media account should never be used for the purposes of the Company’s business. An employee whose role involves the use of social media for work purposes should endeavour to undertake such work using social media accounts established for the purposes of the business and must follow the Company’s rules on business use of social media.
3.2 A personal email address, and not a Company email address, should be used for the purposes of personal social media accounts.
3.3 Employees are permitted to identify the Company as their employer on social media sites. However in the event that the employee wishes to express personal opinions, particularly where these may be at odds with those of the Company, they must ensure the opinions could not reasonably be perceived to be an expression of the Company’s opinions.
3.4 Employees should ensure that the privacy settings on their social media accounts are set in order to put appropriate limits on the information which is accessible by the general public; however simply having a privacy setting in place will not necessarily prevent the Company taking disciplinary action against any employee deemed to have used social media in an unacceptable manner.
3.5 Employees can only have Customers of the Casino they work in as social media friends/contacts if:
i) The employee holds a Marketing role where they are