Resource: Developing Effective Social Media Policies Solar Co. Inc., a solar panel manufacturing and installation company, has recently encountered several legal issues related to harassment allegations by employees, mistakenly classifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees, and internal disputes related to employees posting sensitive company information on their personal social media accounts outside of work. To prevent these issues from happening in the future, Solar Co. is in the process of updating its employee handbook, and the CEO has asked you to draft several pieces of material for inclusion in the handbook with each piece containing at least 175 words. The information needed in the request is identified below: A policy related to the prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination including specific action items that will be required of employees and management. A section explaining the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. A policy that helps ensure workers are properly classified by including specific action items that will be required of employees and management. A policy related to employee use of social media such as guidelines related to appropriate content and identification of Solar Co. in any posts including specific action items that will be required of employees and management. Be sure to include explanations and justifications for each of your policies to help the CEO understand why each one is necessary. Cite scholarly references. One scholarly reference must be from the University Library. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Handbook Policies

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course

Date of Submission

 

Anti-Harassment Policies

Solar Co. Inc Company has to incorporate some regulations that would, in turn, prevent the growing issues from taking place shortly. Regarding the policy related to the prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination, the organization should incorporate anti-harassment policies that will in turn provide a clear statement on the type of bullying conducted, provide proper guidelines on how such actions will be handled and also design how employers and employees at the organization ought to respond to acts of harassment. The anti-harassment policy should also incorporate a detailed process through which workers can make appropriate complaints when sexual harassment happens (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011).  The employers and the management will be required to make it clear to every worker and workplace participant that sexual harassment is not allowed and uncalled for in the workplace. The management and other key stakeholders at Solar Company should also come up with appropriate behaviors needed throughout the workplace. On the same note, employees should report every concern of sexual harassment or an inappropriate sexual act to the human resource director or the supervisor.

Employee and an Independent Contractor

In the section outlining the difference between an employee and an independent contractor, Solar Industry need to let its stakeholders acknowledge that employees will always receive some training regarding their career responsibilities while independent contractors typically incorporate specialized expertise to a specific project or task. Also, as outlined in the United States fair labor standards act, if an employer has few to no control over the finished goods and services, but instead avails products and services to a client, a majority of the organization’s workers will likely be grouped as an independent contractor. The section should also make it clear that if the worker fails to get a steady paycheck or a salary, then they are likely to be recognized as independent contractors (Vaast & Kaganer, 2013). Employees are always hired to accomplish a given duty or perform a particular responsibility within regular hours and receive regular paychecks with automatic deductions for state and federal taxes. These are some of the explanations that should be outlined in this section as it will assist the management in describing the actual differences between employees and independent contractors.

Payroll Fraud Prevention Policy of 2013

The classification of workers as employees or independent contractors strategically outlines whether an employer is responsible for withholding and paying payroll taxes. It is thus essential for the solar company to have a policy that will ensure that all the employees are effectively grouped. The payroll fraud prevention policy of 2013 is a necessary regulation that ought to be incorporated in the company’s plans as this law’s primary objective is to lessen the mislabeling of workers as independent workers on a federal level (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). In this law, the employers will be needed to give prior notice for both the independent contractors and the employees by telling them on how they are classified. This notice will also avail contact data for the division of labor and inform employees that they ought to be in close contact with the division of work when they believe that they have been misclassified or grouped. The policy ensures that all employers who fail to comply with the requirements are subjected to appropriate penalties. The payroll fraud prevention law will be valid for the solar industry.

Solar Co. Inc Social Media Policy

Social media policy within a workplace is considered one of the best ways of making sure that the employees recognize how to operate on the various channels and also assist in staving off other problems that are likely to arise. Solar Co. Inc social media policy will be useful for the company in controlling the use of social media within the workplace. Moreover, such a plan is appropriate as it will empower workers to share company messaging. With clear rules and guidelines, industries can assist workers to acknowledge how to utilize social media in promoting their various brands (Vaast & Kaganer, 2013). Within this policy, the workers are allowed to engage themselves with the industry when posting but they ought to brand their online posts as personal and strictly their own. The organization should not be held accountable for any consequences the employee’s content may produce. Content about critical industry data should not be shared to the outer online society, and they include data like the firm’s design plans, legal operations, and internal matters. All these policies will ensure that the industry strives in meeting its intended objectives and avoiding discrimination issues that are likely to arise.

 

References

Bobbitt-Zeher, D. (2011). Gender discrimination at work: Connecting gender stereotypes, institutional policies, and gender composition of workplace. Gender & Society, 25(6), 764-786.

Vaast, E., & Kaganer, E. (2013). Social media affordances and governance in the workplace: An examination of organizational policies. Journal of computer-mediated communication, 19(1), 78-101.