Fiona Vivian, HR manager at digital PR agency Reboot Online, has answers to some of the most common concerns that Brits have about social media usage, communication, and legalities in the workplace.
For an overview of commonly searched work-related queries from the last 90 days, please find the table below.
“Employer monitoring social media” – 900% Search Increase
“Employee monitoring is legal in the UK. To begin monitoring employees, employers must be transparent about their intentions, such as to detect criminal activity, check mishandling of information, or to ensure appropriate standards.
“All personal data monitored must be relevant to their intentions. So, if you discuss work matters on your personal social media, this could be a reason to conduct a legal investigation.
But if you keep personal and professional life very separate, and disagree with your employer’s reasoning for employee monitoring, you can take your employer to an employment tribunal or complain to the Information Commissioner.”
Fiona’s Tips:
- Make sure to keep your personal social media registered under a personal email address.
- Avoid using yourclient’s or company’s name in messages, as this could warrant an investigation into a breach of confidentiality.
- Do not discuss colleagues on social media or interact heavily with them outside of working hours on personal platforms. If a grievance is raised about workplace harassment, your social media could warrant monitoring.
“Employment law changes 2025” – 450% Search Increase
“Labour’s Right to Switch Off has been scrapped, meaning employees do not have extra protection around switching off outside of working hours. This right aimed to allow workers to ignore work calls and emails and have the right to decline extra work on the weekends.
“Unless your contract states you must make yourself available outside of working hours, the scrapping of this right shouldn’t make a difference to your right to switch off. Discuss boundaries with your employer so that you can be most productive during your contracted hours.”
“Legal temperature to work in UK” – 70% Search Increase
“Although there isn’t a legal temperature to work in, 18-21°C is the optimal temperature for workers to be most efficient. Being cold not only negatively affects our productivity, but it can affect our health. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires employers to provide a reasonable temperature. If you feel this is breached, the best option is to contact your union, as the law around working temperature is ambiguous.”
“Excuses to work from home” – 70% Search Increase
“You might want to work from home due to sickness, childcare responsibilities, or other appointments you want to work around. All employees have the right to request flexible working by making a statutory application. However, if you’re hoping to work from home on a random Tuesday, your employer is not required to entitle you to that.
“If you are ill, employers might believe you are too ill to work, so working from home is unfortunately not a fallback option in all companies.”
“Can you unsend an email?” – 40% Search Increase
“Mistakes can happen, whether that be a small typo or an email addressed to the wrong client or colleague. It’s important to remain calm and professional in these moments.
“A little-known fact about Outlook is that you can recall an email, which essentially unsends it. The caveat is that it is only possible if both you and the recipient have a Microsoft 365 work or school email account in the same organisation. So, if you send an email to the wrong colleague again, you can now recall it and forget it ever happened!”
