An employer toolkit for employee training and policies related to social media and crisis communications in health care organizations

This creative project explores the elements commonly included in social media policies, particularly as it pertains to health care organizations, and whether these elements align with research-tested communication models and guidance on social media policies issued by the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Social media policies play a crucial role for public relations practitioners because these documents are a point of convergence for internal communications, social media, and crisis communications. To manage risk effectively, health care organizations need to have policies and training programs that effectively teach employees about their responsibilities and help them make wise decisions when using social media. The output of this creative project is an employer toolkit. This toolkit contains four items that companies and organizations can use for internal communications related to social media and crisis communications: a social media policy template, a self-guided online training module, an interactive quiz, and templated internal communications that encourage employees to take the quiz, participate in the training module, and adhere to the policies and procedures in the guide.