Former Expatica blogger La Petite Anglaise is out of a job. Her company fired her for blogging. But she's not the only one; several employees fired for speaking too candidly online are now suing their former companies while many other companies actively encourage the employees to blog away. Find out how to set the limits and protect your online space.

La Petite Anglaise is out of a job.

An expat, originally from York, England, Catherine Sanderson worked in Paris and started her website on a whim one day, after reading The Guardian's guide to blogs (or web logs) and becoming engrossed in relating the adventures of La Belle de Jour.

Her website attracted thousands of visitors who learned about her French husband, her precocious toddler, affectionately called 'Tadpole' and her job with a British firm in Paris. But her less-than-kind comments about her boss combined with the irretractable attitude of the miffed high-ranking personnel landed her a pink slip or dismissal due to faute grave (gross misconduct). Her employer covered its track by saying it wasn't just her comments (which were technically anonymous), but Sanderson did play hooky, used company time to blog and used company property for personal reasons.

Though she never mentioned the company by name, never mentioned anyone by name—they found out. "And never was my professionalism called into question," says Sanderson. To this day she has no idea who "turned her in."

Encouraging blogging

Blogs are becoming more common in the workplace for a number of reasons.

First, many individuals—expats among them—reach out to the global community for professional reasons; to chat about new products and services, difficulties with a particular project or trying get a handle on the latest work issues.

Second, companies find blogs a useful way for employees to complain and vent without having to worry about mutinous behaviour.

Lastly, blogs are the latest craze in IT. Rather than ignore them, savvy firms are posting websites with blogs for both employees and the public to engage. But the majority of blogs are daily logs—public dairies, which relate personal details and secrets best kept unsaid.

According to Kevin Grossman, Chief Operating Officer for Fisher Vista, LLC, an international marketing firm for the human resource industry, the big tech companies are requesting that employees blog. Companies like Sun Systems practically require employees to blog on the company's website.

"There's value to blogs," says Grossman. "The more their employees write about their products and personnel, the better for the company." He notes that blogs inadvertently direct traffic to the company's website and provide 'free' advertising, but warns that every employee should know that company-hosted blogs are monitored. "Companies have to protect themselves," says Grossman. "The sharing of company secrets can get you fired immediately."

If you have your own blog—use common sense, says Grossman. "Don't blog on company time." Work at work, play at home, and don't be disrespectful of bosses on your blog he advises. "Sure a lot of companies let a lot of negative comments slide, and frankly, I have no problem with someone who feels the need to vent, but if the problem is that bad, there are appropriate channels in human resources that the person can go through," says Grossman.

Although the HR department has the unsavoury reputation for policing and whistle blowing, Grossman believes that it should be a safe haven for employees to air grievances. "But," he says, "in the end, you have to remember, it's about the company—it's about business."

The policy of honesty

Bloggers have been fired from Starbucks, Delta Air Lines, Friendster, Google, and Microsoft.

Here's your blog: go ahead

In a 2004 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, three percent of human resource professionals reported disciplining an employee for blogging.

Freedom of speech isn't the freedom to say anything you want about the company or its personnel. And the awful reality is that not everyone is on your side—you're more likely to be outted by a co-worker or even a 'friend' than the company's IT manager.

"You could be terminated for blogging inappropriately if it violated company policy," says Grossman. "For example, if you revealed proprietary company information, defamed or slandered the employer or other employees."

Grossman admits however, that being fired outright for blogging is a rare occurrence. Most bloggers are able to remain anonymous, so complaints and insults float unrestrained in cyberspace. "You can't be fired just for blogging, it's still pretty uncommon. There's got to be other problems with the employee."

Some human resource professionals encourage honesty, advising employees to alert their supervisor of their blogs or their intention to start one, whether for business or personal reasons. Make sure you know the lay of the land before you disclose your website, you could be tossing a red blanket in front of a bull.

Keep it upbeat

"I'd advise companies to strongly urge their blogging employees to be positive," says Grossman. Because it's an HR nightmare to deal with finger-pointing on a company blog. If it does get to a point where the blog has gotten out of control, the employee needs to sit down and review the guidelines and restrictions, which hopefully will have already been in place.

In May, IBM released blogging guidelines for its nearly 330,000 employees. But they can kiss anonymity goodbye: Blogging employees must identify themselves and their roles at IBM. Microsoft has no official guidelines.

Blogging is testing human resources and the law. Several fired employees are suing their former companies for the injustice of being fired simply for speaking candidly. In early winter 2002, an American woman, Heather Armstrong, was fired from a software firm after complaining in profane terms about the company on her blog, the company knew about the site for a year. While she never challenged her discharge, some legal experts suggested her case would have had merit as wrongful termination since her right to free speech was seriously trampled upon.

 And as with Catherine Sanderson's case, neither woman was given any warning nor did their respective companies avail themselves of the proper procedures to correctly fire an employee, for instance through issuing warnings, probation, complaint filing. Other legal analysts argue there's nothing private about the public domain of the internet.

Both dooce.com and petiteanglaise.com are still active. And now UrbanDictionary.com defines dooced as "losing your job for something you wrote on your blog."

Creating guidelines and policies

Oddly enough, 'dooced' employees may just be the perfect people to help create guidelines and policies for blog-challenged companies. Former Google product manager Mark Jen now works for Plaxo (a consumer internet service) and has just created the company's blog guidelines. On his own blog, Jen has wisely nestled a disclaimer in his profile column, which says, in part: "…content published here is not read or approved by Plaxo before it is posted … [does] not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Plaxo…"

Blogging 101

Blogging about your experiences working as an expat can help others ease into the transition—but be careful. The chart below is handy for the beginner blogger.
    
 On your blog:                        YES                                 NO

Reveal names		X
Tell co-workers		X
Pictures	X (pets & scenery--ok)	X (you & family—not smart)
Complain	X (keep it positive)	X (file a petition offline if it's about work)
Include e-mail	X
Be honest	X (back up with facts, give credit if material is borrowed)
Anonymous	X
Tell friends/family		X
Use company computer		X
Encourage feedback	X
Use native language	X

Resources

www.blogger.com (Clear guidelines for creating and running your own blog).

www.problogs.com (An easy to use blogging service with emphasis on professional blogs).

http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/004725.html (A good resource for HR. Jeremy Wright, fired blogger and founder of InsideBlogging, a blog consulting company.)

August 2006

Freelance writer Bernadette Sukley is based in the US.

Subject: Blogging, expat blogs