Goal: use social networking to your advantage in managing employee relationships.
For years, many employers have responded to social media sites in what many see as a relatively arbitrary manner: by banning them completely. A recent 3 Mobile Australia poll found 55% of Australians said their bosses had banned social networking sites, compared with 20% reporting bans in the UK, 12% in France, 11% in Spain, 10% in Germany and 6% in Italy.
Bans have become increasingly difficult to police, however, since companies cannot control workers' use of the services at home or even, with ever more powerful smart phone applications now available, via mobile from the office. Given the proliferation of options for users, forward-looking managers - especially those who genuinely want to identify and resolve morale issues - will want to take a more proactive stance to avoid being lambasted in public global forums by employees who might nonetheless be reticent to raise issues directly with their supervisors.
This doesn't necessarily mean lifting bans, which can be justified for any number of reasons, including productivity - but it does mean actively engaging employees online. The easiest way to do this is to sign up for some of the more popular sites - Twitter, for example - and see what you can find. Start with an employee you know is online (most people use real names), check out their profile and you can see who they are ‘following' (connected to). Read their updates (Twitter updates are freely available to the public, unless users specify protected updates) or click to follow them on an ongoing basis.
More progressive employers are leading by example, by joining sites like Facebook and befriending their workers who, whether cowed into stunned acceptance or genuinely interested in building an online bond, are likely to accept. People search engine www.yasni.co.uk recently found that 86% of the 1203 surveyed UK residents did not want to be ‘friends' with their boss - yet almost 80 per cent said they've accepted a Facebook friend request they didn't want to because they had no other choice.
"When our miserable boss who rarely even talks to us in the office adds us as a 'friend'," Yasni CEO Steffen Ruehl says, "it's no wonder people assume they just want to keep tabs on them".
This power can be incredibly useful: many bosses actively use Facebook to keep tabs on employees, often with interesting results such as the call centre worker caught by his HR department feigning a sick day. Remember, however, that employees will know who's in their social network, so it's important not to be seen as overly intrusive (Facebook provides means to block certain ‘friends' from specific information, but, according to Michael Argast, director of global sales engineering at Sophos, set-up for this can be very involved and the tools are not that easy to find, so many users don't even bother).
If you don't want to be seen as stalking your employees, a more proactive stance may be useful. Set up a Twitter account or a Facebook group to update employees about work-related events - keeping in mind, of course, not to post confidential or company-sensitive information.
Build up a rapport by creating your own personal Facebook page, and you may be surprised at how many employees are happy to involve you. They probably won't rant about you if they know you're listening, but showing genuine concern about their well-being may pay off by removing their need to rant in the first place. As an interesting aside, blogger David Spencer offers employees five reasons why they should befriend their boss.
Step 3: Formalise your social networking
Goal: Normalise and build policy around use of social networking.
Although many social networking tools are still in relative infancy, rapid adoption is certain to see corporate versions emerge, just as what happened with instant messaging several years ago. Companies in many industries - for example, Asia/Pacific banking institutions - are already formalising policies for using social media for customer outreach, and inward-facing initiatives hold equal promise. For its part, analyst house IDC believes enterprise social networking will be a $1.3 billion market by 2012.
Once the opportunity is defined, it's up to each manager to decide how to utilise social media for good - and as a way to provide employees with alternatives to the ranting and character assassination that many sites encourage. The key is to set an example from the get-go. "Bringing these technologies inside the firewall means you can introduce them to staff in the context of acceptable business use," says James Dellow, senior consultant with social media consultancy Headshift.
"This doesn't mean there are no fun conversations going on. The barriers to entry are so very low that it's mainly an issue of how you manage them. You've got to introduce them now, just in a controlled way, but in a managed way - encouraging people to adopt these work practices and adding on the social, conversational layer."
As with all new technologies, it's critical to clarify employees' rights and responsibilities. Are they expected to restrict access to such services during work hours? Will they be actively monitored for potential disciplinary action? Are there clear rules about employees sharing company-sensitive information online? What recourse is available for handling complaints?
Updating your corporate handbook to include policies on social media is essential to address liability concerns and normalise the use of social media tools within the company. Resources like this, this and this offer guidance for the exposure and best-practice policies you may want to consider.
Clarifying expectations from the beginning will go a long way towards more productive employee relationships. Many may not even be aware of the existing channels they have for complaints; work with senior management, line-of-business managers, and human resources advisors to frame social networking services within other existing policies. Or to formulate totally new ones, with an eye on harnessing their benefits as well as setting limits on employees.
After all, no one wants to end up like the CEO of US interactive agency Tocquigny, who was rudely awakened to the dangers when a visiting client asked about the CEO's dealings with a competitor (dealings that an employee had mentioned in a Twitter post).
