Companies Lack Social Media Harassment Policies, Survey Finds

Law360, New York (May 30, 2013, 9:45 PM ET) -- Employers are underprepared when it comes to dealing with harassment complaints tied to social media use and not enough companies have specific policies in place that tackle social media-related harassment, according to survey results released recently by NAVEX Global.The apparent lack of preparation for dealing with social media issues comes at a time when companies should be expecting a continued rise in social media-related complaints, according to ethics and compliance solutions provider NAVEX.

Survey Results (Navex press release, May 20)

Key survey findings on emerging harassment trends include: 

• Sexual orientation (79 percent), religious (73 percent) and disability (71 percent) harassment are among the most common trends companies cover in their harassment prevention training.
• 75 percent of organizations are actively training against retaliation claims. However, there has been an uptick in the number of retaliation claims over the past 12 months.
• Around 23 percent of those who responded have also seen an increase in bullying claims over the last year, which may be due in part to only 50 percent of organizations training employees on bullying prevention.
• Only 34 percent of respondents have a specific policy for handling harassment via social media.
• Of employers with global employees, 58 percent are now providing harassment training to employees outside the U.S.