Bloggers are writing about their day jobs, and it’s getting some of them in trouble. An increasing number of companies are adopting policies that would prohibit bloggers from discussing their workplace, with termination as one possible result. In most cases, the law is backing the corporations up.
Data indicates that a majority of firms haven’t even considered the issue. The Society for Human Resource Management found that 85 percent of the human resource professionals it polled did not have blogging policies; only 8 percent did. Jennifer Schram, a workplace trends and forecasting manager at the Society, thought this created a difficult situation. “Right now it is tough for individuals to know what is happening because so few organizations have a clear policy about employee blogging,” she said.
Both for their own enjoyment, and for the possible benefits, many employees keep a blog about work. A number of people have capitalized on the success of such blogs and gone on to much bigger things. For example, the blog of former Capitol Hill intern Jessica Cutler is now a novel, as is that of Jeremy Blachman, a lawyer. And thanks to her blog, Nadine Haobsh got a two-book deal.
Kelly Kreth was fired from her position as the marketing and public relations director at a real estate firm due to her blog. “It led to me opening my own business and making triple what I was making before,” Kreth said. Not bad.
Many employees might not have the same luck, though. It would seem best to tread lightly in a blog as far as one’s workplace is concerned. Alexx Shannon puts it this way: “I just knew that I didn’t want to jeopardize anything for my career. My real life is more important to me than my online life.”
Add to document.write(“Del.icio.us”) | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web
Technorati:
Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
