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Having a policy on social media use is an unrealistic attempt to control staff and displays a lack of trust, the CIPD Social Media Conference heard yesterday.

Speaking at the London event – which was a first for the institute - Neil Morrison, Group HR Director of Random House, said that HR too often fell in to the trap of relying on “dumb” policies influenced by legal advisers and that social media was one area where things should be done differently.

“In HR I sometimes think we have to feel in charge or we feel uncomfortable,” said Morrison. “I don’t think you should have a social media policy – I believe it is an area that’s very very dangerous, and that’s based on the concept of trust. If you are high policy, high control, what you are saying to people is ‘we don’t trust you’. But the tiny minority of people who are going to misuse social media and do something silly are going to do it anyway.”

He added that maintaining productivity was “the single most stupid argument” for trying to restrict social media, as people have their own preferred ways of accessing information and that good management was the key. “If somebody was reading the newspaper all day at work you wouldn’t respond by drawing up a newspaper policy,” he said.

Mathew Davies, UK HR Director of Logica, was also opposed to having a policy. He told delegates that employers had to learn they could not control everything that is said about their company, whether by customers or employees. Websites where employees anonymously share information about their employer were gaining popularity, and would increasingly influence jobseekers’ decisions, he said.

“The idea of giving up control would have been anathema to me in HR when I started work,” said Davies. “But the digital age is enabling conversation to take place, inside and outside a company, like never before. Logica recognised quite early on that control was no longer ours and it was our people who would play the biggest part in building our employer brand... whether you like it or not, that conversation is already happening.”

He said that the social media landscape “might feel like the Wild West, but that doesn’t mean you have to try to play the sherriff.” Instead, employers needed to participate in the conversation on an informed, authentic basis. “That sometimes means saying ‘as a company we are not perfect’ and admitting your mistakes,” he said.

Sharing a platform with Morrison, Alison Chisnell, Group HR Director of Informa, admitted that her company was in the process of drawing up a policy, but said it would be “light touch” and would consist of “guidelines”.

“We don’t want to stop the conversation before it’s really started – we want to encourage people to have a go,” said Chisnell. “It’s a red herring whether or not you call it a policy, or guidelines. The main guideline is just to be sensible,” she said.