I’ve been thinking about writing a longer post with some thought about how people’s personal social media (and blog?!?) posts are increasingly having repercussions on their work life.
This was especially relevant after the Sask Health Association sent out some fairly chilling messages to staff who were posting thoughts/opinions/information about Covid a few months ago.
But for now, I’ll just say that everything controversial someone might post on social media isn’t necessarily going to end up in a bad outcome, even if it might seem like it at first.
For example, a British train conductor who compared Covid-related alcohol bans to living in “some sort of Muslim alcohol-free caliphate” was fired but ended up having the decision reversed by the courts.
I feel fortunate to work in a public library which has a commitment to freedom of expression and opposition to censorship as a core value.
Knock on wood, I have never been directly criticized or otherwise punished for anything I’ve written here or on any other social media platform even though I know people at the very top of the organization have read (and commented!) on my blog in the past, multiple managers read my posts, and colleagues often mention it as well.
(The closest I got to criticism was the Director in my first library job who introduced me to other staff on my first day this way – “This is Jason. He’s replacing James for 18 months. He has a blog.”) 😉
I’ve also had managers talk to me about issues I’ve raised on this blog over the years but more from a place of wanting to address legitimate criticism or ideas I’ve bought up.
(In one post about Red Deer Public Library strategically engaging in municipal politics, I joked “Wish I knew someone at RPL who I could bring this up to” as a tongue-in-cheek reference to myself, having just started at RPL. But a manager at the time who read the post thought I was sending a veiled request to them to act!)
The role you have probably plays a factor too – are you a senior out-of-scope manager who’s closely identified with the organization or a low-level in-scope employee? Probably the type of commentary is also a factor – posting links to neo-Nazi web sites and encouraging people to sign up is very different than ruminating on whether libraries should collect books by Adolf Hitler.
Anyhow, hear, hear for open discussion, debate and discourse and letting people’s personal lives, opinions and commentary be just that!
