Do You Use WhatsApp At Work?
Using WhatsApp and similar messaging services for work is now commonplace but can lead to significant problems. If you use WhatsApp at work, this newsletter contains essential advice.
WhatsApp is really useful for sending quick messages, but therein lies the first problem! Messages are so quick and easy to send that often people don’t give enough thought to what they’re writing and how it might be received. It’s all too easy to relax and say something you later wish you hadn’t.
Professional correspondence often becomes more personal but remember that WhatsApp messages will not necessarily remain confidential. Consider what happened during the pandemic: Ministers and their advisers, MPs and civil servants used WhatsApp in the expectation that their messages would remain confidential but they were later scrutinised very publicly and the results were highly damaging.
It has been reported that the number of Employment Tribunal cases in which WhatsApp messages are used as evidence has tripled since before the pandemic. We see lots of cases ourselves where WhatsApp messages are presented as evidence, particularly in grievances where staff have fallen out. Complaints are often made about the tone of messages; their content and their timing.
Group WhatsApp chats can be problematic because you don’t always know who is reading messages or how messages will be taken by people: something said in innocence could be read in an entirely different way. And that doesn’t even start to consider the deliberate misrepresentation of a message to settle scores.
Using WhatsApp to share jokes with colleagues at work, particularly on work devices, is another highly dangerous area. Anything that’s in any way discriminatory or apparently aggressive could lead to allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination. Such cases normally lead to disciplinary action, often ending in dismissal. In 2020, an operations clerk was awarded £25,000 compensation by an Employment Tribunal after she discovered a WhatsApp group set up by other members of staff with the specific purpose of racial abusing her and another member of staff.
Protect Yourself: Our Advice
1. Our very strong advice is not to engage in any ‘banter’ of any sort with colleagues on WhatsApp, however easy and tempting it may be. We see so many cases that involve WhatsApp message evidence, particularly where subsequently the people concerned have fallen out.
2. Don’t express views on the sensitive issues of our day (politics, race, religion, immigration etc.) on WhatsApp or other media. Managers and/or other staff may want to see the back of you and ‘going off on one’ on WhatsApp is a good way of helping to fulfil their wishes!
3. When writing a WhatsApp message, keep it professional. Think to yourself: how would this message be received if it was being read by a senior manager or even an Employment Judge? If you’re in any doubt, don’t sent the message.
4. Think about the timing of a message before you send it: does the message really need to be sent outside of work hours?
5. It’s easy for personal and professional boundaries to become blurred in correspondence, you need to try to avoid this happening. Stick to sending messages to colleagues which are relevant only to work.
6. At all costs, resist the temptation to criticise or demean your colleagues in social media or emails. If you do and it comes out expect to be sacked!
7. If you need any advice on the issues covered in this newsletter, call us on 01234 716005 (lines are open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday). Alternatively you can email us at 24hours@workaffinity.co.uk. Remember that anything you discuss with us will remain confidential.