Blog: HR Periscope

I believe most organisations have come to accept the fact that Social Networks such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace are here to stay. Facebook specifically is fast becoming increasingly popular not just amongst young people, but also with older people as well. This has become increasingly evident to me in the last few months when I have noticed a number of friends from school that I haven’t spoken to for around 20 years, signing up to Facebook. Although, personally I have been a user of online networks for a number of years, I previously only found people of my age on business online networks.

There is no doubt that as individuals use social networks, they need to be cognisant of the fact that a lot of the information and I emphasis images placed on social networks are public and therefore accessible by both current and potential employers. If I ever doubted the extent to which employers used information from the internet to vet potential employees and suppliers, it became clear to me when I attended a meeting with a potential client, who had in front of him a printed copy of my online profile from Ecademy (a Social Business network).

A number of organisations have banned employees from access Social Networks at work for fear of the security of their IT systems or out of concern that employees will spend all their time on the networks when they are supposed to be working.

On the other hand, recognising the power of social networks to breakdown silos, build relationships, allow for collaboration and the sharing of ideas and solutions to problems an increasing number of organisations are creating internal social networks. Although I think this is something great that should be encouraged, the truth is that it doesn't replace the external social networks that enable employees to interact on a social and professional basis with friends and associates outside of the organisation. Until you log on to a social network you may be unaware of the diversity of activities on the sites which often include a number of professional/business focused groups, in addition to the more general social chit chat and activities.

Furthermore, as the 21^st Century employee increasingly seeks flexibility and freedom in how they work, I’m not sure that a simple no access policy is a good way of retaining the support and employment of good employees.

Rather, I believe there is a need for a middle ground which protects the organisation, whilst allowing employees reasonable access to social networks. So organisations concerned about the security of their IT network can have a few computer terminals that are not linked to the company’s network, placed in communal areas which employees can access during lunch or coffee breaks. Enabling employees to only access Social Networks in communal areas should also deal with employer concerns that employees may be sitting at their desks accessing social networks throughout the day.

Most important of all, an organisation should have a clear policy on employees use of social networks incorporated into its Policy on the Use of IT. This is important not only to clarify what is acceptable access to Social Networks within the workplace, but equally to ensure that employees specifying their employer’s name on profiles, blogs etc maintain a public image which is consistent with that of their employer.

Susan Popoola
Conning Towers
HR Transformation & Talent Management
Leveraging the Power of People

Copyright 2008 This document is the specific intellectual property of the Conning Towers Consultancy. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated from content obtained from other sources and such content is referenced as appropriate.

Labels: Facebook, Generation X, Generation Y, Human Resources, Social Networking, Talent Management

# posted by Susan Popoola @ 14:02 0 Comments