Blogging technology may be new, but the rule of thumb for talking about about your employer is as old as business itself: Don't bad-mouth your company in public:
These online journals, once reserved for the geeky computer guy or freedom-seeking teen, are all the rage. More than 36 million Weblogs exist in the United States.This cultural craze has left companies like Eli Lilly and Co. and Chase bank in Indianapolis quickly drafting blogging policies to protect their reputations. And workers are thinking twice before mentioning an employer in a personal blog for fear of termination."If your blog appeared on the front page of the morning newspaper, would you care?" asks Michael Blickman, labor and employment attorney with Ice Miller. "If not, then blog away, but be prepared for the consequences."
Don't tell tales out of school. Don't air your dirty linen in public. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Anything that has so many proverbs to describe it should be simple common sense. It is natural to occasionally resent the enterprise you have to depend upon for your paychecks, and a certain amount of griping about it is healthy. That's what family and trusted friends -- those who know when to let you blow off steam then keep it to themselves -- are for. But we've all heard people who don't know when to turn it off -- many times, they seem to be at the table right next to us at the restaurant. Between the appetizers and the check, we learn everything bad there is to know about Company X, which, of course, has never done anything except cheat the public and screw over its employees.
Comments
And to think there are tales of the U.S. Treasury Department I could tell that could curdle milk...!
To quote from "The Guns of Will Sonnett":
"No brag...just fact"
;)
B.G.