Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Employees Using Social Media, Should You Worry
How many employees use social media whilst at work?
According to a poll by My Job Group 55% of 1000 employees surveyed visited social networking sites whilst at work.
That's just social networking sites, social media is so much more than just social networking.
How many employees use social media whilst at work, in your company today? Do you know?
The reality is employees are always connected, if you consider smart phones and any other mobile devices.
Companies currently monitor Social media for brand Management but less than 10% monitor employees and what they’re saying online, that figure will change and by 2015 it is estimated that 60% of companies will be monitoring what their employees say across social media.
Monitoring employees can protect your company but you mustn’t create a Big Brother environment. As an employer you don’t want to know about their religion, their political views, sexual orientation or their medical problems, there's a difference between monitoring and surveillance.
There are many advantages with your employees using social media however they do need to be educated and know what is appropriate to share and what isn’t appropriate to share.
They need to know that all comments should be positive and in good taste, always within the law and absolutely no comments against your brand should ever be made.
You are not being restrictive and you are not stopping freedom of speech you are guiding your employees as you would with or without social media.
Consider the lengths that you and your company has gone to to build your brand, your reputation, why risk jeopardising all of that because you haven’t educated your employees and set them guidelines on the use of social media?
It sometimes only takes a flippant remark which can then travel like a remark on steroids not just locally but globally!
Keep the lines of communication open yet monitored, create the balance of good use of technology and social media whilst safeguarding your business.
JOIN Jobhop and spread the word.
Julie Bishop Jobhop.co.uk
In:
- Social media