Another Employee 'Gripe' App Poses Risks (and Opportunities) for Employers

“Say what’s on your mind” needn’t be said in person anymore.
From Facebook to CoWorker.org, with today’s technology, there is a growing number of websites and apps that provide employees the forum to air their gripes and grievances with or without their employer’s knowledge.
Microsoft has just launched a new down-loadable app—called Forum, as labor attorney Jon Hyman notes:

According to the app’s description, it “lets ideas thrive, facilitates open dialogue within organizations, and enables employees to freely express themselves.” More importantly, unlike Memo, Forum appears to be non-anonymous. From iMore: “Forum has apparently been designed primarily for businesses to give their employees a chance to speak their minds and connect with their fellow workers and executives.”

While this app is new, the potential issues it raises for employers are not. Employers still have to work around the risks that arise from retaliation against employees who complain about work.

While some employers are still fearful about all of the changes taking place through technology, all-too-often those employers look at it from a glass-half-empty viewpoint.
Tech-savvy employers, on the other hand, can (and should) view websites and apps as tools through which they can gauge their employees’ morale, identify issues of concern, as well as ideas for improvement.
For the more engaged employers, in addition to face-to-face meetings, these new tools can provide valuable forums for them to actually communicate directly with their employees on a wide array of issues affecting the workplace.
Related:

• Keeping Unions At Bay By Engaging Employees With Positive Employee Relations On Social Media
• Why Union-Free Companies Should Be Very Concerned About This Particular Website…