2/5 Weekly Email + Social Media Policy
Hi all,
I don’t have a lot of new info this week - I mostly wanted to remind everyone of the importance of their everyday work, Tempe’s social media policy, and your exclusive perks as a union member.
What We Do: I don’t think I say this enough, but I remain in perpetual awe of the work Tempe employees do and how it impacts this City. It’s sometimes easy to fall into a weekly rut of repetitive tasks and lose track of how what we do helps people, but we’re all public servants and public service always has a direct connection to improving the lives of the people around us. Public service has a distinct sense of nobility, whether someone is filing papers, reviewing plans, picking up trash, mopping floors, inspecting properties, fixing equipment, digging ditches, fixing electrical lines, planning events, or trimming trees - all of these things keep the wheels of society turning, facilitating economic growth, Arizona’s development, the internal functioning of this organization, and the wellbeing of residents in Tempe and beyond. Days may be long and work may be difficult, but please do not forget the good that you do for this City - the value you add is immeasurable, and judging by the annual resident surveys, greatly appreciated by the Tempe community.
Social Media Policy: This is just a friendly reminder that Tempe has a social media usage policy and that employees should brush up on what it contains every few years. This policy is in line with what other cities and public sector entities expect of their employees - while there may be things we can alter down the road, these are basic expectations you’ll find at any municipal employer. I’ll briefly summarize the main points of the policy, but want to reiterate that it is worth re-reading this yourself to ensure you fully understand the expectations.
I should caveat this from the start - to the best of UAEA’s knowledge, there is no one in Tempe who is monitoring City employee’s social media. We have also only seen one discipline related to social media in the last few years and it was because someone reached out to the City about objectionable content they saw on a City employee’s personal social media page. You should not be concerned that anyone is actively monitoring what you post - just be mindful that there is the possibility that the content of your posts could lead to discipline if a member of the public feels strongly enough about it.
In general, you are free to discuss whatever you’d like on your social media pages…except for job-related content. You do not have a First Amendment right to post about job-related things except in highly specific instances where the content is about “a matter of public concern,” but even then you could be disciplined if that post could cause “damage” to the City or your workplace. Damage is defined as
“…any disruption in the workplace resulting from the speech that impaired discipline by superiors; had a detrimental impact on close working relationships; impaired harmony among co-workers; impeded the performance of the employee's duties and/or interfered with the regular operation of the City.”
I can’t speak for all members in all instances, but to avoid potentially running afoul of this policy it’s probably best to avoid posting about City-related topics on your social media. Locking down your social media to only friends and family may not be sufficient to avoid discipline - in the one case we’ve handled, the employee was reported to the City by one of their friends, not a member of the public.
In addition, avoid mentioning that you are a City of Tempe employee in your posts - if you absolutely must do so, make sure that you make it clear that the opinions you express are not the opinions of the City of Tempe and just your own personal thoughts as a private citizen.
Finally, even if you are not identifying yourself as a City employee and you are not posting about job-related content, you can still be potentially disciplined for your posts if they contain any of the following issues.
Contains defamatory or false content,
Creates an unreasonable adverse effect on the workplace;
Is represented or appears to be made as part of the official duties of the employee, unless the official duties of the employee include the authority to engage in speech in the manner in which the speech occurred; or
Otherwise exposes the City to liability or adversely affects public officials, employees, the public or the City without due cause.
This may not be immediately clear from the above restrictions - content on your social media which indicates a bias of some kind towards the public may lead to disciplinary action if someone reports it. The City has a duty to impartially provide services to all members of the community and investigate if one of their employees appears to be biased against certain groups.
I’ve attached a copy of the social media policy to this email - please review it soon if you have not done so already. Please feel free to reach out if you need guidance about your past or future content on social media - we may be able to provide more specific feedback if you have examples. That said, if you have concerns about the content of your posts please reach out to president@uaeatempe.com with a non-City email.
Member Perks: A few City employees who are not members of UAEA have reached out in the last month to UAEA’s Board looking for assistance with various workplace concerns. Many non-members appear to be under the impression that we provide help to everyone in the City, and we’ve had to tell them that they are wrong - if you hear your non-member coworkers make any reference to this, feel free to correct them. I’m mainly mentioning this to remind members, if they were not already aware, that the assistance we provide in disciplines or workplace concerns is an exclusive perk for UAEA members and not something we extend to non-members. UAEA members pay dues to support our work - because of that, our time, energy, and knowledge is spent only on making sure you have good work experiences and fair treatment in disciplinary settings. It is not that we do not care about the workplace concerns of non-members, but rather that your concerns will always be our top priority.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned another aspect of this to members in a while, so I also wanted to remind members that non-members who join our union in the middle of a disciplinary matter are not entitled to representation. The board does not want non-members to treat us as an emergency insurance policy and does not want the resources members have provided for years to be utilized to support new people who are just coming on board. People are welcome to sign up in the middle of a disciplinary matter, but UAEA will only provide disciplinary assistance after that matter is resolved.
Biometric Screenings: Tempe is hosting its annual biometric screenings across the City throughout the month of February. Please see the attached email for details about the screenings and a link to schedule. Remember that these screenings are a mandatory requirement for people to receive their insurance discount, that they count for at least 50 points of the 100pts of your insurance wellness discount, and that they could count for as much as 75 points of your 100 pts if your health metrics see improvements over last year’s scores. Please also don’t forget that you can use the results of a physical at your primary-care doctor to substitute for these screenings if that makes you more comfortable - you can see how to do that in the attached document.
February Member’s Meeting: Our next members meeting will be on February 19th from 12-1pm at the Tempe Fire Training Center (1420 E Apache Boulevard). (Please note that prior copies of our meeting schedule stated, incorrectly, that the address is 225 E Marigold). This meeting will have representatives from Nationwide present to do a presentation on retirement planning - if you attend this session and ask questions it will count towards your healthymetempe “Financial Wellness” incentive, which is worth 5 points (1/20th of your needed 100 points). You can rsvp here until February 12th (next Thursday).
Tempe IT Trainings: Tempe It is offering Microsoft and Adobe training throughout the Spring, with courses designed both for entry-level employees and those who already use those tools on a daily basis. I think nearly every employee can benefit from these courses - if you handle documents or information on a consistent basis, there are almost certainly ways to simplify some of your existing work processes and transfer information from different programs more easily. Check out the class schedule here.
There are also 30 on-demand computer classes offered through the Tempe IT class portal if there are other skills you want to build. Check those out here.
Thanks for a great week, everyone!