Business has its very tough demands, but as one recent social media disaster for a Cyprus company illustrates, it doesn’t pay to treat people inhumanely, because now everyone has access to social media channels. Revenues, reputation, everything a company has worked for can be thrown away in just one day.

The story goes that a woman working at a local Cypriot company was fired because she was unable to come to work. The reason she couldn’t come to work was that she was suffering from breast cancer and had to have the long and painful treatments to recover. The company dismissed her in writing and communicated in an inhumane way that it would pay her a gratuitous fee and redundancy, and that they had to let her go because other people had to do her job.

The lady bravely published the letter on Facebook and was supported by her network of friends, who shared the letter, which eventually reached the attention of the mainstream media. From then on, the journalists - who rightly reported on the unfair dismissal - did the rest. The case even reached many politicians, who spoke out in public against the woman’s treatment.

All of this has impacted severely on the company’s reputation, and it has issued a public apology and upwardly revised the amount it is willing to pay - but has not offered her back the job.

Other businesses should learn some important lessons from this social censure:

• Never underestimate the power of social media, it can put companies out of business if they act in anti-social or anti-community ways.
• Always put people first, be respectful in person and in writing - it’s a simple matter to scan a communication and distribute it online.
• Sensitive issues must be treated sensitively, an employee’s serious illness is not a normal case.
• Relationships count - in the workplace and in social media.
• Every marketing department must have a plan for social media crisis management.
• Every workplace should proudly have a corporate social responsibility programme that includes supporting important charities like anti-cancer charities or gender-equality agendas. This can go a long way towards pro-community reputation building and goodwill in society.

Every business can remember that it is part of a bigger whole - the community.

Social Media Digest highlights interesting social media trends and is sponsored by the digital marketing communications consultancy and video productions firm Jazz Arts & Communications, written by Sarah Fenwick. Contact us for your digital marketing advice.