Would You Be Embarrassed If Management, the Media, or Mom Read Your Instant Messages?


Language that is obscene, racist, sexist, discriminatory, menacing, harassing, threatening, or in any way hostile or offensive has no place in the electronic office. Use your written IM policy to ban language that could negatively effect your organization’s business relationships, damage your corporate reputation, trigger a lawsuit, or be used against you as evidence in litigation or an investigation. [12]

Instant messages create written records that can be used as evidence for or against you during litigation or an investigation. If you would be embarrassed to have a comment uncovered by prosecutors or covered by the media, don’t put it in writing and transmit it via IM or e-mail.

Instruct employees to compose instant messages that are businesslike and adhere to the following guidelines:

  1. Jokes have no place in cyberspace. Typically jokes are told at the expense of an individual or group, and they may be perceived as harassing, menacing, or defamatory. Compounding the problem, IM is a cold medium that is devoid of intonation, facial expression, and body language. It is, therefore, easy for readers to misinterpret jokes.

    Use your IM training program to let employees know that the no-joke policy extends to instant messages and e-mail only. You’re not trying to create a somber, humorless work environment. You’re simply trying to limit unnecessary electronic risks.

    Let employees know that they are free to share clean, inoffensive jokes on the phone and face-to-face. But jokes of any kind, even those rated G, are banned from the computer system.

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    Real-Life E-Disaster Story:
    It Was No Laughing Matter When the Joke Triggered a Lawsuit

    In one high-profile case, Chevron Corporation in 1995 was ordered to pay female employees $2.2 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit stemming from inappropriate jokes e-mailed internally by male employees. Among other gems, the offending jokes included one titled ‘‘Twenty-Five Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than Women.’’ [13]

    Before instant messaging a joke to a buddy, consider if there is any possibility that the joke you find so funny might be offensive to someone else. If there is a chance that your intended recipient or a hidden reader will be offended by the language, tone, or content of the joke, don’t send it. Better to err on the side of caution than to trigger a workplace lawsuit.

    end sidebar

  2. Keep instant messages clean of rumors, gossip, negative comments, and disparaging or defamatory remarks. Use your written IM policy to notify employees that they are prohibited from transmitting messages that could in any way cause harm or embarrassment to an individual or the organization. Ban the use of IM to send or receive rumors, to gossip, or to make negative comments and disparaging or defamatory remarks about employees, executives, the organization, clients, or other third parties.

  3. Obscene language, harassing or menacing comments, and racial or ethnic slurs have no place in business instant messages. Remind employees that IM access is provided primarily for business use. Employees should therefore use businessappropriate language in all IM communications—personal as well as business record messages.

[12]Nancy Flynn, The ePolicy Handbook, New York, AMACOM, 2001.

[13]Ann Carrns, ‘‘Prying Times: Those Bawdy E-MailsWere Good for a Laugh Until the Ax Fell,’’ TheWall Street Journal ( February 4, 2000).




Instant Messaging Rules. A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues for Safe IM Communication
Instant Messaging Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues for Safe IM Communication
ISBN: 0814472532
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 241
Authors: Nancy Flynn

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