Public servants’ use of personal social media: Guidance for managers
Guidance on how to responsibly use personal social media accounts while maintaining the integrity and impartiality of the federal public service.
Guidance for managers
Public servants, like all Canadians, have a right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion, association and expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Those rights need to be balanced with our obligations as non-partisan and impartial public servants.
While some instances are clear—public servants should not, for example, engage in hate speech—there are many grey areas where public servants feel conflicted over what they can or should post. It can be very difficult to navigate how we interact with social issues, geopolitical events, international crises, or changes within the public service in online spaces.
This is particularly challenging for employees whose identity factors—such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability—become the subject of broader political discourse and who are directly impacted by the decisions or discussions on what are often considered controversial and sensitive topics.
Managers are an integral part of the public service. You provide guidance and leadership to your teams and are on the front line of ensuring that we are a professional, inclusive, accessible and healthy workforce that can deliver excellence for Canada and Canadians.
As part of that role, you are encouraged to talk to your team about this social media guidance so that they understand why it matters, how it applies to them, how to apply ethical decision-making, and where to turn for additional support.
You are encouraged to discuss how to address cases where a team member is facing harassment or discrimination from another public servant or a member of the public because of their position as a public servant at team meetings.
When discussing with your teams, you may want to reinforce the following points:
- When we join the public service, we take an oath and we agree to uphold the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector as a condition of our employment, including the duty of loyalty
- As public servants, we serve democracy and deliver excellence for Canada and Canadians
- Upholding public trust and the confidence of the duly elected government in the public service is essential
- As public servants, we have the right to engage in political activities; however, this must be balanced with our responsibility to maintain a non-partisan and impartial public service, which means ensuring that we are and are perceived to be politically impartial when carrying out our public service duties and functions
- We also have a responsibility to create and maintain a safe, healthy, inclusive and accessible work environment
- This guidance is not about stopping public servants from using social media; it is about helping public servants understand the risks and broader implications of online activities so that they can make informed choices that are aligned with our values and ethics
- Including disclaimers can help mitigate risks, but there is always a possibility that opinions could be perceived as representing those of the government
- Privacy settings could also help to mitigate risks, but individuals may still be identified, and posts could be shared publicly
- We need to think about the implications of our actions on our team, our organization, the public service as a whole and the trust and confidence of the Canadian public
- Posting, liking or sharing inappropriate content could hurt the trust that team members have in each other, and make our work environment feel less safe
- We should be mindful of the specific roles and responsibilities of our team, and exercise good judgment about engaging with online content related to our area of work
- We also need to think about the implications for our own careers:
- Once something is online, it is very hard to permanently remove it
- Hiring managers could look up someone’s digital footprint on publicly available social media for information relevant to the hiring process
- Public service leaders will be held to a higher degree of scrutiny about both present and past social media posts
Managers should proactively work on creating psychologically safe spaces within their team where issues and concerns can be raised. The Centre of Expertise on Mental Health in the Workplace has resources to help you.
If an employee comes to you with a complex question and you are not sure of the answer, you can turn to your organizational values and ethics office for help.
Additionally, managers should proactively inform their employees there are mechanisms to raise workplace and interpersonal disputes. This could include organizational values and ethics offices, a dedicated Ombud, human resources, union representatives, or other relevant parties.
What do you do if you see or become aware of a potentially inappropriate post?
Managers generally should not be routinely monitoring employees’ public social media activity and must always respect their employees’ rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
However, a post may be brought to your attention through any number of ways:
- raised in a media query
- comment from a member of the public
- seen and reported by a colleague
- highlighted on social media
- shared on a professional network page
An organization’s response to an individual’s social media activity should be proportional to the risk that it poses and should be addressed in a respectful and professional manner.
If you need to deal with social media activity that clearly violates the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector (for instance, a post taking advantage of a public service position for private financial gain, a post bullying a colleague or discriminating against someone on grounds protected by the Canadian Human Rights Act, or an unauthorized disclosure of protected information online), follow your organization’s protocols for addressing such instances.
If you need to deal with social media activity that could be inappropriate, but you are not sure, here are suggested steps that you could take:
- Take the time to understand the context—approach the situation with curiosity and openness and avoid drawing immediate judgments or conclusions
- Be courageous and have honest and open conversations with your teams about expected behaviours
- Think about the potential for your own unconscious biases to be leading you to make unfair judgments
- Consider the overall well-being, character and lived experience of the person who posted the content—sometimes, out-of-character online activity can be a sign that an individual is experiencing personal challenges
- Ask the employee to share their intentions and goals in making the post to help you assess the situation
- Refer to the other tabs of this guidance and consult with organizational experts to determine the correct approach to responding, including whether:
- the issue is likely to happen again, and whether the employee requires additional guidance or training
- the post should be taken down
- administrative actions should be taken
- Clearly communicate with the employee your decision, what the repercussions are and what the expected behaviours are going forward
- Continue to provide support to the individual—this is particularly important if the post has gone viral and the individual is experiencing significant backlash or harassment and requires support.
Depending on the complexity and the severity of the situation, you may need to involve your organizational values and ethics office, Ombud office, labour relations, human resources, conflict of interest office, or other relevant parties. You should consult your organizational code of conduct for additional resources and information.
Overall, your aim in these situations should be to restore confidence, trust and a healthy workplace.
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