In today’s working section of the National Post, (August 23, 2006), there was an article about the issue of working conditions and employment practices within the videogame companies. …”its not uncommon for employees to work six or seven days a week, for 12 hours each day for months on end…”
The article reported that a single blog rant by a spouse of an employee became a catalyst for action – a costly action for the employer, Electronic Arts. The employer was hit with a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit. The result was overtime settlements for employees of more than 31 million US$.
So, although blogs may start as very personal spaces, they can be tipping points for significant change. Even if you attempt to control the web traffic and conversation within your organizational setting, the impacts of how you manage your relationships with your employees can be subject to scrutiny by those directly effected, but outside of the hierarchy – i.e. family members…it is a complex web of relationships – so compliance doesn’t mean that you have silenced the detractors – note the power of a single voice….
