With social media accessible 24/7 it is important that your employees understand your expectations. My advice is you share this with them in-store as well as on social media:
While we may post information on social media and ask questions through messenger apps outside your usual work hours, we do not mean to intrude on personal time. Nor do we expect or ask you to engage whatsoever on business issues outside the time we pay you for.
By doing this and repeating it every so often you could be establishing a line of defence should a relationship turn sour and you find yourself on the other side of a Fair Work claim relating to pay for time worked outside usual hours.
The message also establishes your expectations, so both sides are fully aware. This is better than assumptions based on unwritten positions.
This issue has been on my mind over the weekend following hearing about a retailer who is being pursued by a former employee for a claim of overtime payment relating to regular Facebook Messenger questions outside of work hours. The owner of the business worked elsewhere and the only time they had questions was after the shop closed. They did not expect them to be answered outside of regular hours. However, they did not make that clear.
Jason,
As someone who gets asked questions outside of work through some of these apps, I don’t have a problem with it.
If I’m not busy I’ll happily reply to the question asked, but if I am busy or not wanting to deal with work I will ignore it plain and simple. No different to a relative or friend messaging me at an inconvenient time.
In a good company, Jason, they will know there are no consequences for ignoring posts / messages outside work hours.
Totally agree Jason. People feel compelled to answer.
Work is work.
Relatives & friends are relatives & friends – not work, in most cases anyway