Social media policy template
Nearly every version of this document is written as though the risk were a staff member badmouthing the business. In practice it is a photograph taken on a shift with somebody in the background who never agreed to be there.
This example wording was checked against the official sources on 22 September 2026. It is a starting point, not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.
| Section | What the policy says |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To say what can and cannot be posted about this business, its customers and the people who work here. |
| Who it applies to | All employees, casuals, apprentices and trainees, contractors and volunteers. It covers personal accounts as well as the ones we run. |
| Your own accounts | What you post on your own accounts is your business. This policy applies where a post has a real connection to work: it identifies this business, shows the premises or a uniform, involves a customer or a colleague, or discloses something you learned here. |
| Posting about work | You are welcome to say you work here and to share what we post. Do not speak on behalf of the business unless the owner has asked you to. If you post about the work, make it clear the view is your own. |
| Photos and video taken at work | Do not photograph or film in the workplace without the manager on duty agreeing first. Customers, their tables and their orders are not content. Never photograph anything showing a card, a receipt or a screen with somebody’s details on it. |
| Customers and their privacy | Do not name, describe or tag a customer, and do not repeat what happened to them here. A story with the name taken out is still identifying if there is only one person it could be. |
| Colleagues | Do not post a photograph of a colleague without asking them, and do not post about a disagreement at work. Take it to a manager instead, or use the grievance policy. |
| The business accounts | The owner runs the accounts and decides what goes on them. Anybody else given access is named in writing, and that access is removed the day they stop working here. |
| Reviews and complaints online | Leave reviews and online complaints to the owner. Do not reply, argue, or ask friends to post a counter review. If you see one that needs a fast answer, send it to the owner. |
| Confidential information | Supplier prices, recipes, takings, rosters, pay and anything about a colleague stay here, online as much as anywhere else. |
| Phones during a shift | Personal phones stay off the floor during service, and are used on breaks away from customers. The code of conduct says the same thing. |
| Out of hours | We do not monitor personal accounts and we do not ask for passwords or access. What you do on your own time is yours, up to the point where a post has a real connection to work as described above. |
| Breaches | A conversation first in most cases. A post that identifies a customer, discloses confidential information or targets a colleague is treated seriously and may result in disciplinary action up to dismissal. |
| Review date | Reviewed each year in March, or when we start using a platform this does not cover. |
What is in the file
- Template, blank, with each section down the side and room for the answer.
- Example, the same sheet filled in for Harbourside Coffee.
- How to use, with the steps and the mistakes below.
How to fill it in
- Write the photography rule first. It is the part broken weekly and the part with the most exposure behind it.
- Say who holds the logins, and add removing access to whatever you already do when somebody leaves.
- Be honest that personal accounts are not monitored, and then do not monitor them.
- Give it out with the code of conduct, since the phone rule has to say the same thing in both.
Common mistakes
- A policy claiming authority over everything an employee posts, which is unenforceable and reads as a threat
- Business accounts still reachable by somebody who left eight months ago
- Nothing at all about photographing customers, which is where the real risk sits
What changes by trade
The law behind this document is the same wherever you trade, so the wording above is written once. What changes is what the trade puts in front of it.
| Childcare | The strictest version of this policy. No personal device is used to photograph a child, and consent comes from the family through the service rather than from an educator asking. Say what happens to a photo already taken on a phone. rostering an early learning service |
| Disability and home care | A participant’s home, their routine and their appearance are all their private information. Say that nothing from an appointment is posted, and that social media contact with participants and their families is not accepted. rostering disability support |
| Pubs and clubs | Patrons photographed on a big night is the recurring one, along with staff posting from behind the bar. Add that anything suggesting service to an intoxicated or underage patron is a licence problem, not only a bad look. rostering a pub or club |
| Cafes and restaurants | Staff posting latte art and plated dishes is usually free marketing. Say it is welcome, then set the two limits: no customers in shot, and nothing filmed in the kitchen during service. rostering a cafe |
| Retail | New stock photographed before its launch date is the common breach. Add embargoed lines and supplier confidentiality, and say who is allowed to announce. rostering a shop |
| Security | A guard posting from a client site can expose the client’s layout, its staffing and its patrol times. The rule here is nothing at all from site, including a photograph of a uniform. rostering a security business |
This is example wording for a small business to adapt, not legal advice. Conduct outside work can be a work matter where there is a sufficient connection to the employment, and whether there is depends on the facts. Where children, patients, participants or clients can be identified, privacy obligations and the rules of your own regulator or funding scheme apply on top of this.
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
Removing somebody’s access on the day they finish is the job most often forgotten. In Roster Flow, ending somebody’s employment ends their access to the roster, their shifts and their timesheets at the same time.
Questions
What is on the social media policy template?
14 sections down the side, running from purpose to review date. The example beside them is filled in for Harbourside Coffee: what staff can post about work, photos on shift, and who answers a bad review.
Does the social media policy template work anything out for you?
No. It is a document with 14 sections to answer in your own words, not a calculator. Nothing on it is a formula.
Can I use the social media policy template in Google Sheets?
Yes. Open social-media-policy.xlsx from Google Drive, or use File, then Import, then Upload with social-media-policy.csv. The document and its example come across either way.
Is the wording in the social media policy template ready to use as it is?
The social media policy template is a starting point for Harbourside Coffee or any business like it, to adapt rather than sign. The wording was checked against the official sources on 22 September 2026, it is not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.