After I read the articles, I couldn't agree any further that the act of a company engaging its employees in social media is very much tied into the company’s overall success. As such, I would like say that employee communication is indispensable than ever before.
I think employers do understand that but many are distracted by fear of uncertainty. According to Alison Davis, CEO of Davis & Company, a September 2008 study by Avanada, a global IT consulting firm, found that more than half of the 500 top executives surveyed resist the adoption of social media out of fear that it will sap worker productivity.
The role of employee communication is critical and necessary. It’s equally important for employers to understand that communication distributed in one direction no longer satisfies the need of today’s employee audience.
“Employees want to control their communication experience by asking questions, adding comments, learning other employees‘ perspectives and even creating their own news,” says Alison Davis. I think control here means to be engaged and interactive which is what social media facilitates.
In her article, Why Employee Communications Matter, Anne Sauve said that employees can be one of your biggest points of leverage, if you engage them properly, at any time, crisis or otherwise. I think what employees say about their company can go a long way.
Unless a company has some kind of security concern or it’s operating unethically / illegally, it has all to gain by taking advantage of employee networking. According to Anne Sauve, it’s about engaging them and giving them the opportunity to provide input and be a source of important feedback.
For executives who think that employee communication (social media) is still just an idea, I suggest that they should look at what it has done for so many companies out there. The number will explain why it’s now so indispensable than ever before.
Abaya Sannor
Abayam I agree. Social media is growing tremendously. The statistics have proven that this techniques works. Of course there are liabilities to take into consideration but that is with every new technology that has been introduced over the last 25 years.
ReplyDeleteAnne Sauve could not have put it any better, employees play a huge role because how they represebt the company definitely impacts the brand's reputation.
Kashanna Johnson
I feel one word "blur" represents where company communications stand today. The lines between formal forms of communication and proliferation of Social Media has been "blurred". The concept in the mind of upper management to limit the use of Social Media in the workplace definitely needs to be erased and employees are starting to also notice that the question,"Is it okay to be on FB,blogs or Wikis?" is no longer relevant.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, proactive and dynamic employees must arm themselves with multiple opinions and sources to form great opinions,pop-up light bulb ideas and provide informed input to a company. Why would any company want to lose out on that?
Alexander Mathew
Well said Alex, it's funny how when Facebook and Myspace first came out, it was almost like a crime for employees to be on it! Now it seems as though it has changed to people using it on a regular basis, especially since people now have access to these sites on their phones and don't have to use work computers.
ReplyDeleteAbaya, great post. The headline is very true. After reading the articles, I got the feeling that employers underestimate communication with their employees and the fact that they are hesitant to use social media supports that. While I certainly hope it's not true for all companies, I get the feeling that it is for quite a few.
Thomas Cassidy