Virgin Atlantic Sacking Staff after Facebook Criticism

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081031/technology/britain_aviation_internet_company_virginatlantic_1

Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff after Facebook criticism

LONDON (AFP) - Virgin Atlantic said Friday it has sacked 13 of its cabin staff after they criticised the airline and some of its passengers on social networking website Facebook.

The airline, controlled by Richard Branson's Virgin group, said the staff's behaviour was "totally inappropriate" and "brought the company into disrepute".

The action follows an investigation into the remarks posted on Facebook, which concerned planes flying from London's Gatwick airport and insulted passengers, as well as reportedly saying the planes were full of cockroaches.

"Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour," the airline said in a statement.

"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers."

It said cabin staff who held such views could not uphold the expected standard of customer service.

"There is a time and a place for Facebook. But there is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who ultimately pay their salaries," a spokesman said.

Facebook allows users to share photographs, videos and personal information through online individual profiles and groups. It claims to have 110 million users worldwide.


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My remarks:
Wow. During our first personal PR class, our teacher searched for some classmates on Facebook and Google. Some classmates were shocked to realize that their pictures of their drunken escapades were viewable by the public or other Facebook members.

This article reinforces the damage that your online personality can do. Even just a small number of unsatisfied employees who are posting their displeasure online can publicly damage the company's reputation and the person's reputation. Imagine going into a job interview and the HR person asks why you left your previous job. You wouldn't want to admit that you were terminated because of your online personality.

But on the company's viewpoint, will this company be seen as very strict and difficult to work for because they terminated employees for their Facebook postings? While the company has a reason to be strict and enforce the company policies that promote an united public reputation, firing employees for expressing their displeasure at their jobs seems rather extreme.

However, according to the news article, the statements made online by the employees were very specific, damaging and misleading towards customers. The employees claimed that the planes were infested with cockroaches. This claim can negatively damage the reputation of Virgin Airline as not being sanitary or properly cleaned. In this case, the comments made by the employees were completely out of line and should not have been made publicly. If the employees were concerned about cockroaches on the planes, they should have discussed it with their supervisors or management.

Additionally, the employees insulted customers. In the land of customer service, and an highly competitive industry such as the airline business, any attempt or successful attempt to discredit or insult customers is a very poor choice. In my first day of working in customer service, my boss told me the key to success: the customer is always right. In this case, customers who are feeling insulted are not going to want to fly Virgin again because of this negativity. Who knows what else the cabin crew has been discussing? There is no place in the workplace for insulting those whose participation pays your wages. Respect them, or they won't use your service again.

Ouch. Think before you post.
*kate*