Social Notworking

Addressing employers fear that allowing social media at work will decrease productivity

“If you worry about the internet effecting productivity, you’re worrying about people stealing pens from the stationery cupboard”. Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft

Is lack of productivity due to social media really the issue employers are concerned with? Or is the fear born out of the lack of control about what is being said, rather than how often sites are being accessed?

There is a general ground swell of uncertainty attached to the monitoring of how employees use social media. The melding of their personal face with that of the organisations presents both complications and opportunities. Social media, be it good, bad or ugly, is not going away. It is, however, changing the face of how we do business and organisations need to work to embrace it in order to harness how it can work for them and their employees.

When internet based email was first introduced to businesses in 1971, employers panicked about the misuse or decline in productivity from employees this may have. Email policies were common in the early adoption days but I’d challenge you to find an employee that has read, knows where to find or was made aware of their organisation’s email policy on joining the organisation they are now in, assuming, of course, that they haven’t been there for more than twenty years. I’d also challenge you to find anyone that considers email a hindrance to their business.

Blocking employee access to social media sites is not the answer. Employees will simply pick up their iphone or other mobile device and access sites that way. You can’t prevent access in the same way you can’t prevent conversations happening in the social media space about your brand, service or product. Nor should you want to.

Is it not better to be part of those conversations and encourage and nurture a positive experience for customers and employees in order to champion your brand? Creating a social media policy is a good idea, particularly if your organisation is large. Setting out expectations on what can and can’t be shared when it comes to intellectual property and what sort of tone is appropriate when blogging, micro-blogging, pod-casting etc on behalf of your organisation, helps establish a benchmark that you can then tailor as needed.

Harnessed properly, social media can not only grow your business but create thought leaders of your employees, develop networks and collaboration across your industry and provide a platform to develop your employees thinking, making them better at what they do. Remember, social doesn’t necessarily mean fun (although it can be), and while social media can be used for business purposes, the key is to finding a balance to allow your employees time for their own experiences outside of the confines of their work roles.

And trust shouldn’t be underestimated as a way of motivating staff. Knowing they have yours is essential for any employee to grow and develop.

And if you already know all of this but are finding it challenging to convince your colleagues or CEO that social media should be embraced and not shunned, perhaps it’s worth pointing out that whether you’re part of the conversation or not, people will be talking about your brand, service, products and industry in any number of forums. What you learn from, and contribute to, those conversations will make your business smarter.

Your CEO might not think social media is relevant to your business but your customers, stakeholders and employees might have other ideas. Perhaps the best place to start is by creating some listening posts to track conversations about your brand, product, service and industry and then make a decision on whether those are conversations you’re happy to ignore. At least then you’re making an informed decision.