Posted in Business Start Ups
Creating a confidentiality agreement with your employees is a good idea. It’s a step towards preventing marketing plans, customer lists, product designs or other confidential and proprietary information from being used by an employee for their own benefit or by his or her next employer. If you have such agreements in place, are they broad enough?
If an employee has access to your social media accounts, information related to them should also be kept confidential. This information can include login information, passwords, social media strategy and membership lists.
Social media can be a powerful tool to help in marketing and develop and maintain customer relationships and your company’s reputation. If someone is performing a marketing or sales role in your business has access to this information, if and when that person leaves to work elsewhere, this information may go out the door with him or her.
The confidentiality agreement that’s already been signed may not be enough for this purpose. Is there a section requiring information related to social media accounts be kept confidential and the employee is to transition any social media accounts in case the employee leaves?
- Website hosting and social media terms and conditions of use may make it difficult for a company to regain control over internet assets used by an employee,
- There should also be an agreement with the employee that any social media accounts and assets are the property of your company, and
- When the employee leaves that person is to transfer all passwords and account information, and agree not to make use of such social media information for any other purpose.
We live in a world of ever changing technology that evolves at an ever faster pace. Confidentiality agreements need to keep up with that pace. Given how dependent businesses can be on social media for marketing and public relations, companies need to make sure they’re protected.
If you want to discuss creating confidentiality agreements, or amending existing agreements, contact our office so we can talk about your needs, applicable laws and how to best protect your interests.
