Help! My Employees Are Making TikTok Videos at Work
Employees making videos at work can be distracting - at best.
In today’s world of Insta-famous TikTok influencers bragging about their millions earned per month, it’s no surprise that nearly everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon.
Who am I to talk - I’ve got my own TikTok and IG accounts, as well. I even make them at work (ahem, my own home).
This avalanche of easy-money hungry wanna-be influence peddlers certainly includes your own staff. Some of them are even making videos AT work. Even more are producing content ABOUT work.
What can you do and what SHOULD do you?
The Law: Protection for Employees
The first question to answer when someone is making videos: Is it AT work or ABOUT work?
While there is no law protecting worker’s rights to make videos AT work per se, employees do have a right to engage in concerted action for mutual aid or protection. In simple terms, this means they can talk to each other about the workplace.
The National Labor Relations Act protects their rights to communicate about the work environment and discuss things like wages and working conditions. This is why any time an employee talks about the workplace — positive or negative — should be addressed very carefully, video or not.
However, the NLRA does not protect a worker’s right to film or record inside your office, even if it’s about the workplace.
What Should I Do About Videos Being Made In the Clinic?
If videos are being recorded IN the clinic, then here are some things you can do
Check to see if you have a policy about this. If you don’t, then create one and get ready to distribute it. Make sure to include it in your next employee handbook when you revise it.
Discuss the videos with the employee. Regardless of the content of the videos, mention that you are concerned about any recording in the office. You can cite privacy concerns, the distraction of recording at work, and
If you had a policy in place, then disciplinary action may be the right thing. If you didn’t have a policy in place, see the section on discipline below for other indicators that discipline may be a good idea.
If you didn’t already have a policy in place, then distribute it to all employees (electronic signatures help) and explain why you’ve created it.
Ensure that you consistently address cases of employees recording at work.
What Should I Do About Videos Being Made About (But Not In) the Clinic?
The short answer is you can always discuss the videos with the employee, even if the videos are about work. How you approach it may depend on the video content, however.
If the videos are ABOUT work, then you want to approach with curiosity and calm. If any of the content presents the office in a negative light, let them know you’ve seen the videos and you’re curious about the concerns they’re posting about.
It’s not advisable to pursue disciplinary action if someone merely makes videos about the office (and not recorded in the clinic) as long as they are respectful and honest. In some states, this could even be legally protected activity. Believe me, people are already talking about you, your leadership, and their feelings about work. So punishing someone for sharing their thoughts on video it is just asking for you to be scrutinized more.
Could Discipline Be Appropriate?
Because of the NLRB, disciplining someone for videos ABOUT work should be undertaken very carefully. That being said, here are some situations where videos made AT or ABOUT work could be more likely to lead to discipline:
The videos harass or indicate disrespect for anyone (employees, patients, managers)
There is maliciously false information about the clinic or about an individual
The video disparages the clinic without directly addressing working conditions. For example, if the video indicates that your office has poor service or that it overcharges patients. If any of the person’s video content includes discussion of work conditions of employees, then the waters become muddier, but disparaging the office in a gratuitous way certainly could be grounds for discipline/termination even if other content relates to work conditions. Please consult and HR pro or labor attorney if unsure how to proceed.
The videos disclose confidential information.
You had a pre-existing policy about no recording in the office that the employee violated.
Company-owned systems were used to record or transmit the video.
The appropriate discipline could range anywhere from a verbal warning to termination. It’s simply impossible to recommend a specific action without knowing your individual facts. What I could say, is that if someone is making videos about work and AT work and none of the other angles are at play (harassment, dishonesty, confidentiality) then I would be very hard pressed to support termination.
Bottom Line
My bottom line is that videos made in the office are almost always a bad idea. Confront anyone recording in the office, policy or not, and use caution if the content tends to be about the working conditions. Consult HR if you plan to execute disciplinary action.
What do you think? Is this how you’d approach it?
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