R1a, I'm surprised FedEx included LinkedIn in their list of social network sites. LinkedIn is a medium wherein professionals can network with other professionals within the same field. My son is a Supply Chain Solutions major and there is a LinkenIn forum specifically for SCS majors at his school.
One shouldn't be surprised...
The "Guidelines" apply to FedEx "professionals" as well as wage employees.
Professionals who are "consultants" or who are looking for work, have a very good reason to use LinkedIn - it is basically an online resume service. It provides those who are looking for specific talent the ability to quickly see what professionals are available in a given area and facilitates contact with those professionals.
Now... professionals who are employees of major corporations don't really need to be advertising themselves to the world at large (they're employed "full-time" after all) - unless they are wanting to "jump ship".... FedEx knows this, so thus why the Guidelines apply to non-wage employees too.
Another thing FedEx wants to avoid, is having those in managerial positions getting requests to provide recommendations regarding former FedEx employees (through inquires of their potential LinkedIn profiles). FedEx has a strict policy against anyone giving any sort of recommendation or revealing employee performance review data.
So the Guidelines serve as a form of potential litigation avoidance for FedEx (trying to prevent salaried employees giving out company confidential information through "social media", then getting sued for having confidential information released). I've known this ever since I first started posting here - and it is why I so vigorously protect my sources - they could and would have their employment terminated if they were found out.
There is also the not so veiled threat contained in the Guidelines to wage employees that they'd better behave, or else face the consequences.
The only thing that is really significant regarding the whole document, is that FedEx has now openly admitted that it will discipline employees who drag FedEx through the mud - IF they can be identified. Just what constitutes someone positively identifying themselves in social media - that wasn't contained within the "Guidelines". A profile on LinkedIn is obviously automatically identifying - posting on here isn't. The question is where do services like Facebook and Twitter fall (profiles are notoriously easy to fake). The document does reference the "FedEx Code of Business Conduct and Ethics", which presumably gives further detail on just what constitutes "employee identification".
Up until the "Monitor Toss over the Fence" video on YouTube last Christmas, FedEx basically turned a blind eye to what was going on in social media. Yes, they did monitor social media (and despite what some would want to assert, they did (and do) indeed monitor this particular forum) - but they weren't too aggressive in trying to intimidate their employees into not participating - and they definitely didn't have a written policy which basically threatened discipline up to and includinng termination for "slamming FedEx".
That has all changed now. FedEx took a significant hit with that single video. I did receive data that FedEx (and Express in particular) did indeed lose business right after that video was posted. The segment on I think "Good Morning America" cost FedEx in the tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue (internal estimates). They don't want that to happen again. Too many videos of monitors being tossed, boxes being thrown, docs being left in the rain.... and it could cause some serious damage to the "brand".
The ironic thing (not really ironic if you understand FedEx culture), is that they are pushing hard for productivity, thus placing Couriers into the positon of either trying to "make their numbers" (tossing the box), or doing the "right thing", but taking a hit to their stops per hour goal. They are also pushing hard for Couriers to "return to base" as soon as possible (handing out discipline if they exceed their planned RTB time by a certain amount), BUT are also pushing Couriers to make a re-attempt stop at businesses which were closed when they made their first delivery attempt for the day. Classic Catch-22. Spend 20 or so extra minutes on-road trying to make an additional attempt at a few businesses which were closed during the first delivery attempt - BUT get back to the station on time. Classic FedEx, they want to have their cake and eat it too. The wage employees are caught in the middle, trying to figure out just which policy they want to risk breaking.
Then add in the known October Surprise coming, and FedEx knows damn well that the wage employees will blow their tops. They're betting that they don't do any real organizing attempts - but just "get stupid" and start dragging FedEx through the mud. Knowing the habits of many Couriers myself - FedEx is accurate in this assumption. Thus the Guidelines and the very real threat that if an employee identifies themselves and libels FedEx in any way (as determined by FedEx) that FedEx reserves the right to hand out discipline up to and including termination.