Social Media at the Workplace

INTRODUCTION

Employers can’t deny it, social media has grown so fast in the last decade, it isn’t a trend anymore, it’s a new way of life. even at work: 75 percent of employees access social media daily on the job, 60% doing it multiple times (Hamer, 2013). Since social media has such an impact on everybody’s life, organizations have to jump into the boat in order to catch up with their clients or customers. In fact, most organizations have done it: in 2009, 39% of communication professionals reported using Twitter for their professional life. In 2011, this ratio was up to 76% (Anonymous, 2011). While social media is really useful for marketing, sales and communication department, human resources departments are struggling to decide whether or not they will allow the use of social media for their employees.

First, we will talk about the goods and the bad in social media, from a human resources and labour relations perspective. We will explain how social media can enhance employee engagement, recruiters’ tools and employee training and development. Then, we will discuss about some main concerns of employers with social media: loss of productivity, employee harassment, disclose of trade secrets and organization bashing.

In the second half of this text, we will discuss about solutions organizations can implement in order to benefit from social media possibilities, without becoming his victim: it can be by setting up a social media policy or when a company joins a private social network, which is not accessible to the public. We will also provide example of companies that managed well social media and his access to the workplace. We will finally briefly talk about the remaining organization that block access to social media at work and which effects it can bring to them.

I- Pros and cons of social media in the workplace

A- Utility of social media in human resources

While we hear a lot about bad management strategies concerning employee’s use of social media, it has been proven that social media is also a powerful tool in human resources, when well managed. We will discuss three fields where social media is useful in a human resources perspective.

1- Employee engagement

It is well known and recognized in human resources that in order to retain his employees, an organization has to be innovative and create an engagement for employees; they should feel a connection with their employer and understand the strategic significance of their job. Engaged employees are more invested in their