Originally Posted by
Trafalgar
I seem to recall that the mainland Chinese govt has a similar policy. I'm sure that no citizen of China manages to read outside news or post comments on social media
. Funny how totalitarian organisations and like-minded individuals fear the truth, and fear people discussing that truth. When almost everything they say and believe is false, it is understandable why our managers fear the truth. The management also don't seem to realise that this further attempt at intimidation is just further evidence for the 'thinking pilot' to help him/her make up their minds to leave. As if they need yet ANOTHER reason...
Ya....something like that was the SECOND thought I had after Wile E. Coyote stepping on his own mines popped into my head (the thought of folks trying to censor or truncate speech--especially when it's the truth--never works out very well and isn't something you want to do--and is generally a hallmark of totalitarian regimes fearing truth. Thinking people can weigh the merits of arguments presented as well as consider the source and it's a big red flag to me when someone tries to 'crack down' on this through coercive means. To me, it usually means they are losing their arguments based on the facts).
Most companies have some type of social media policy (even if not delineated); most go along the lines of if you say bad things publicly about us that aren't true (or reveal company secrets) you can get into trouble or fired (depending on your hiring situation or contract). And kinda stop there.
Fair enough. If Joe Blow posts publicly on his Facebook page while wearing his Pizza World shirt "my job sucks, Pizza World uses worms in their pizza, and my boss is a cross-dressing
" -- and it's really him that said it for the world to see -- it's not a great deal different than if he said it to the press or posted bills saying the same thing. And he gets to deal with the consequences of his actions--to include getting fired.
Now, if his boss really IS a well known cross dresser and they really ARE using worms (and shouldn't be) the situation might well change.
Problem is, once you get into the weeds and try to control and define what people might say to each OTHER the rules change quite a bit. And depend on where you are at the time (which could be two different parties in two different places and jurisdictions well outside of planet Hong Kong) as well in how you obtain the information.
Say you have two pilots--both employed in Hong Kong and on a Hong Kong contract--but one is in California and one is in London and they are chatting away on some private or semi-private chat group to each other. They are saying some non-complementary things about a company and that information is later brought to light somehow and used to intimidate or discipline. Depending on how you did it you may not only have breached privacy laws in one or both jurisdictions but also be guilty of a Felony. Or your policy itself (which you THINK is legal in Hong Kong) is NOT legal in the jurisdiction where people subject to it happen to be at the time (much like traffic laws in London might not be legal in California and it's where you happen to be driving at the time which counts). Makes no difference where they are employed or where they are from--or even what they do; the 'crime' occurred in London and/or California. And the mine you set goes off as you step on it yourself.
The truth always seems to get out somehow in these days of information. A much better approach (to me) is to have a job and working environment so awesome that people are breaking down the doors to get in. People working there WANT to tell others how great their job and employer is and get quality individuals on board. Then it really doesn't matter what some folks might think or say; the situation and evidence speaks for itself. Folks there wouldn't THINK of leaving, are happy, and invite their friends to come on board (rather than having to recommend they go elsewhere). THAT'S the situation you want to be in.
Edit: The 'Are you REALLY sure you want to do this' guy (or gal) is a valuable person to have in any organization. Perhaps we are lacking in this department.