An online chat forum for staff at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been closed down because employees were using it like "kids in a classroom”, reports the Lynn News (UK).

QEH closes staff online chat forum:

"Bosses at the hospital have decided to close the forum on its intranet site as the content, which included inappropriate comments about members of staff, could raise human resources issues and showed staff were not working.

The forum was set up so staff could keep in touch and place items for sale. It was also used as an internal swap shop for things like printers and scanners, but while those areas of the forum remain open, the chat facility has been removed.

A hospital spokesman said: “The content was becoming suspect and a bit near the mark. Some slightly offensive comments were made about other members of staff.

“People were using it a bit like kids in a classroom and it was getting a bit out of hand.”

There had been warnings in the past that the facility would be removed, and it has been axed once before. Because of the problems, staff were not allowed to post comments anonymously.

The spokesman added: “We are quite a large site, and staff at one part of the building may never see other staff, so it is a nice way to keep in touch during the day.

“I do not think it was used by a great number of people, it seemed to be about half a dozen staff.

“However, a couple of things were started on there, and from a management point of view it was thought it was getting out of control.”

The staff involved had been spoken to, and the chat forum would remain closed until further notice. No disciplinary action was taken."

This is the scenario that most executives and companies fear when they consider discussion forums, blogs and wikis: People will revert to child-like states and begin misbehaving and running amok. However, in the QEH example above, are employees to blame or is the hospital?

Both are to blame. Ultimately the employees involved have to take responsibility for their actions. However, the hospital didn’t take the necessary steps and put in place the critical framework and policies to prevent future problems. Allowing anyone to post any comments anonymously, for example, is a recipe for disaster – particularly if there are any issues with employee morale or dissent.

Intranet discussion forums will die – from either lack of use or misue – if not implemented properly. To implement successful discussion forums requires a number of key ingredients:

·         A willingness to participate by employees

·         Support and contributions from senior management

·         A policy or code of conduct that everyone must accept prior to posting

·         No anonymous comments or postings are allowed or possible

·         Relevant conversation and topics to the business

Without a proper policy employees can and will write about whatever’s on their mind. However, if there’s a policy that must be agreed to, defined subject matters for discussion, and ongoing participation (e.g. occasional postings) from senior management, most discussion forums will not only be successful, but will deliver real value for the organization.

Verizon’s intranet, Digital Workplace (DW), features 40 self-regulating forums (authentication and names required). Self-regulated meaning employees are empowered with the responsibility of their own posts; Verizon doesn’t have the staff nor time to monitor all posts. Despite executive fears of profanity or brazen language, there the forums have never been a problem even in such a large organization. But their are rules and no one is allowed to post anonymously.

“We’ve never had a single problem in the 4.5 years it’s been active,” says Verizon’s Donna Itzoe, Digital Workplace Communications Manager, during the Intranet Insider World Tour featuring the Verizon Digital Workplace (presented by Communitelligence.com). “We’ve never had to remove a single post.”

If left to run wild, some employees can always be trusted to do the right thing. If left to run wild, particularly in a stressed environment with employer-employee dissent, then some will run wild and undermine the good intentions of the rest. Plan before your proceed before you jump into intranet discussion forums.

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