Why You Should Never Speak Ill Of Your Boss On Slack
Are you frustrated with your boss or management? That’s no reason to vent everything on your heart on messaging and group work services set up by your employer because it could seriously harm you. Messaging apps like Slack are very commonly used in the professional world. They allow for instant communication between team members, which promotes real-time collaboration and reduces response times. While we all love the possibility of integrating custom emojis, we must not forget that all conversations on Slack are archived.
This allows team members to easily search for and retrieve previous information, even after some time, provided that your company has subscribed to the paid version of Slack.
However, you should know that your management has the ability to directly access any conversation history, even those you think are private between you and your colleagues. Here’s what they can do.
However, you should know that your management has the ability to directly access any conversation history, even those you think are private between you and your colleagues.
Access any message on Slack, for example, by searching for a specific period or specific words (recall the episode 9 of season 2 of The Office titled “Email Surveillance,” where Michael decides to take a look at what his subordinates are writing about him in their correspondence)
Check the status of employees on the platform, basically knowing if they are connected or not
They can also obtain data on what files are shared, which can also be compromising.
Know that it’s a very bad idea to give information that could put you in a difficult position with your managers or your management, whether on Slack or not. Indeed, with the ease of screenshot capabilities now, it’s impossible to rule out the possibility that your colleagues may one day use this information to your disadvantage.
With the ease of screenshot capabilities now, it’s impossible to rule out the possibility that your colleagues may one day use this information to your disadvantage.
Before wondering whether this practice is legal or not, let’s remember that the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) states that “any message sent or received from your professional messaging account is assumed to have a professional character.”
This reminds us of the points we raised earlier, it’s better to maintain professional behavior on communication platforms set up by your employer.
For each of your conversations to remain truly private, try to use a messaging service designed for that purpose. Legally speaking, for your management to access your messages, they must respect the following points:
Have a clear policy on monitoring employee communications, including on platforms like Slack. You should be informed of these policies at the beginning of your employment. Some companies often just indicate this in their internal regulations.
Have a clear policy on monitoring employee communications, including on platforms like Slack. You should be informed of these policies at the beginning of your employment.
Use this right in a reasonable way, because even though an employer can monitor employee communications in some cases, it must be done reasonably and justifiably. For example, monitoring should only be carried out to ensure the company’s security or to prevent abuses. Thus, the law logically protects employees from overly curious bosses who would scrutinize your conversations to find something to harm you with.
Respect privacy, since if an employer can monitor employee communications, they must respect employees’ privacy as much as possible. This generally means limiting monitoring to work-related communications and avoiding collecting irrelevant personal information.
Speaking negatively about your boss on Slack can have serious professional and personal consequences. It can lead to a loss of trust from your colleagues, who might fear that you also speak ill of them in their absence.
What you write on Slack could fall under harassment or defamation, which can lead to actions within your company. It would be unfortunate to lose your job or be sued when it’s relatively easy to prevent this kind of problem.
Speaking negatively about your boss on Slack can have serious professional and personal consequences.
Overall, if you don’t make waves in your company and follow our guidelines, everything should go well. Thus, the best thing to do is to leave no written trace of your private exchanges, even less so on Slack, which has been set up by your company.
It is possible for you to use private messaging services with a personal address such as WhatsApp or Telegram. But once again, don’t forget that it’s entirely possible to take screenshots and thus, keep evidence of your writings or voice messages.
Therefore, we strongly advise against exchanging words with your colleagues that could harm you if it came to the attention of management.
It is essential not to speak ill of your management on professional messaging services like Slack. Indeed, these messages can be consulted by them, within a legally defined framework. To avoid trouble, prefer private messaging services such as WhatsApp or Telegram, without forgetting that it is also easy to make screenshots that could also harm you.
Video uploaded by Ravi Abuvala on April 1, 2023.
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