Introduction

Social Media plays a significant role in many people’s lives. We know it’s an important part of the way we all connect and can be a powerful tool in connecting our community. 

This policy is to provide guidance on the use of Social Media at work and outside of work. It should help you feel confident when using Social Media, whether it’s to talk about Hireup – our services, our people and our community – or anything else. The policy forms part of Hireup’s Policies and Procedures that you are required to comply with.

The Social Media Policy applies to: 

• Support Workers; 
• Clients; 
• Account Managers; and 
• Contractors.

It is the responsibility of these people to familiarise themselves with this policy.

Unless defined within this policy, any capitalised terms have the same meaning as in the Glossary. 

Scope

This policy applies to your use of any website or application that enables sharing of content or information, or supports social interactions. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Vine, Flickr, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, blogs, any instant messaging service, Yammer, TikTok, any news publication, and many more. 

This policy also applies to your use of closed forums such as private Facebook groups and public forums such as Reddit.  

All of the above are collectively referred to as “Social Media”.

Please be mindful that your behaviour when using Social Media is bound by this policy, as well as the Hireup and NDIS Code of Conduct and the Hireup Privacy Policy, even outside work hours and when material is posted anonymously or using an alias or pseudonym (as having an online presence means you could be traced back to Hireup even if you do not identify as being affiliated with Hireup).

Principles

While the Hireup Community is encouraged to participate in Social Media, it is important to understand that when you are interacting officially or personally on Social Media you are required to follow the below principles: 

• Be respectful and professional at all times;
• Be polite, fair and considerate;
• Make sure your activities do not create any harm;
• Do not criticise people or take any action, which may bring Hireup into disrepute;
• Do not not harass, bully or intimidate; 
• Acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly;
• Do not knowingly post inaccurate information; 
• Provide links to online references and original source materials directly; and 
• Where possible disclose conflicts of interest. 

Obtaining consent to post

If you wish to share information, including photos, about someone you work with on the Hireup Platform, you will need to obtain their consent before doing so.  For example:

• If you are a Client, you will need consent from your Support Worker to post about them on Social Media. 
• If you are a Support Worker, you will need consent from your Client (or Account Manager if applicable) to share information about them on Social Media.

Permissions 

Unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing, you do not have permission to post Hireup content purporting to be posting with Hireup’s authority. However, in showing your affiliation or support for Hireup you can repost and retweet Hireup posts and material or comments without substantially changing or altering the original post’s meaning/s. 

Inappropriate Use

At all times you are to be guided by and comply with the Principles of this policy when using Social Media. You will breach this policy if you engage in inappropriate use of Social Media. 

Inappropriate use of Social Media includes: 

• Using discriminatory, defamatory, abusive, intimidating or otherwise objectionable language;
• Stalking, bullying, trolling or marginalising any individual or group;
• Engaging in discriminatory conduct;
• Engaging in deliberately argumentative conduct without reason in a manner that may bring Hireup into disrepute;
• Uploading, sharing or otherwise engaging with illegal or inappropriate content; pornographic, gambling, including extreme images of graphic content, violence, violent behaviour or information regarding firearms, bombs, terrorism activity;
• Uploading confidential information regarding Hireup or our community; 
• Hacking or attempting to infiltrate systems; 
• Criticising or denigrating Hireup or anyone in our community;
• Paid endorsement of any kind without express written consent from Hireup; 
• Other activities that may bring Hireup or a person’s ability to act in a professional manner into disrepute.

Policy Breach

We are all accountable for what we do on Social Media. Misuse of Social Media can have serious consequences for Hireup and our Approved Users. 

Disciplinary action, including termination of your employment or service agreement, may be taken if this policy is breached.

Reporting and Complaints

At Hireup, we genuinely care about the safety of our community. Everyone is responsible for notifying Hireup of any inappropriate content, or any other breach of this policy, as soon as is reasonably practicable. 

If you are concerned about any inappropriate content on Social Media or wish to report behaviour that is in breach of this policy, please follow our incident report process, which is monitored 24 hours a day. 

Alternatively, to make a complaint or offer feedback about us, contact Hireup using our 24-hour online incident report form, email Hireup at hello@hireup.com.au or phone us between 9.30am and 4pm Monday-Friday on (02) 9113 5933.

In the case of an emergency you should call 000.

Once the investigation into the reported concerns has been finalised, Hireup will communicate the outcome to you to the extent that it is appropriate for us to do so. This may include a summary of the process, confirmation as to whether the allegations were substantiated or not, confirmation on whether action has been taken in response to a substantiated policy breach (however, we will not be able to share the details of the action taken due to privacy legislation), and any steps that have been taken to prevent incidents of a similar nature in the future.

Related Policies

If you would like to access our other policies and procedures please click this link: Policies and Procedures