Guidelines – Blogging

Introduction

Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse by employees are in principle encouraged by IBS to promote constructive, respectful, and productive dialogue between bloggers.  In fact, the company respects the right of employees to be a member of the on-line community and use it as a forum for responsible self-expression. It is felt that by engaging stakeholders, employees can learn, contribute and collaborate by exchanging ideas, sharing perspectives, gaining insights and joining a meaningful global conversation. However, if any employee chooses to identify himself / herself as an employee of IBS or discuss matters that have a direct or indirect reference to IBS, the posts can be viewed erroneously as the views of the company. Hence, there is a need to lay down certain guidelines that an employee should follow. These guidelines would be applicable to all employees of IBS who maintain personal blogs as well as those who contribute to the blogs of others.

Guidelines

1.      Employees are advised to familiarize with ‘IBS’ Communication Guidelines’ before any form of on-line discourse.

2.      When an employee goes public through a blog, he/she is solely and personally responsible for the post and does so at his / her own risk

3.      As these are individual interactions, employees should make it clear that they are speaking for themselves and not on behalf of IBS. A disclaimer “The postings on this site are made in my personal capacity and does not necessarily represent the views of IBS or its management” may be prominently displayed.

4.      Employees should avoid disclosing any information about IBS that is of a confidential nature and not available in the public domain.

5.      Since the blog is a public space, employees should be respectful to the company, co-workers, customers, partners and affiliates and other stakeholders.

6.      Employees should not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to another person or entity. 

7.      Additionally, employees should exercise caution with regard to exaggeration, distortion of facts, misrepresentation, guesswork etc while making posts.

8.      Employees should ensure that the blogging activity does not interfere with official work.

9.      Employees should not use a blog as a forum for communicating official matters to co-workers

• Laws governing copyright and fair use of copyrighted material should be respected.
• Customers, prospects or partners should not be cited or referenced without their approval.
• Employees should not make posts anonymously or under false names
• As responsible stakeholders, employees are expected to exercise fairness and integrity while participating in an online discussion

IBS Blog

All the guidelines documented above are applicable for making posts on the IBS blog as well.