by Hill, Barolet & Assoc.
1. November 2010 19:29
With more and more organizations leveraging social media to reach employees, the concept of “workplace communications” is rapidly evolving. Tools such as Facebook and Twitter are providing companies even more avenues for reaching employees. This expanded connectivity offers many advantages, but also calls for new guidelines to ensure that the communications experience remains productive for both employer and employee. While these guidelines may vary from organization to organization, here are some ideas to consider:
- Secure management support: Make sure managers understand the role of social media in your business and actively support its appropriate use. For example, a team leader might consider a microsite to encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration among his/her direct reports.
- Define rules of engagement: Have protocols in place to ensure that social media use (internally and externally) adheres to your organization’s policies regarding code of conduct, ethics, confidential and/or proprietary information and privacy.
- Provide education and guidance: Offer educational material and training to ensure that employees understand company guidelines for workplace communications, particularly social media.
- Have checks and balances: Not all employee-generated content is created equal. Just as Wikipedia has processes for reviewing user contributions, your company should have guidelines to support the quality and accuracy of employee postings.
- Make sure the medium suits the message: Choose the right tool for the task. For example, consider instant messaging to alert HR about a critical, time-sensitive issue, a vodcast/podcast to provide advance notice about changes to your company’s 401(k) plan or community forums for brainstorming.
A final thought: With increasing advances in communications technology, companies will soon have the capability to connect with employees virtually anytime, anywhere. That said, be sure that the volume and frequency of your workplace communications are what employees can reasonably manage, and that your efforts ultimately promote productivity and performance.