WORDS Claire Churchard, Grace Lewis and David Waller
The world of social media can be a minefield – just scroll down to see why fast food operators in particular have reason to be concerned about compliance.
But for the savvy HR professional, there’s also a world of opportunity. Which is why People Management took a tour of social media’s richest and most revealing perspectives, from the dangers of Glassdoor to finding a balance between online and real life…
1 Your staff are talking about work behind your back
Why Glassdoor and other office review sites should be handled with care
Imagine devoting your working life to finely honing your organisation’s employer brand, only to discover the first thing jobseekers found out about you was your own staff calling out an “intense culture of overwork” and “exceptionally hierarchical” structure. That’s the scenario facing one of Britain’s largest retailers, thanks to workplace review website Glassdoor.
HR departments across the country are waking up to similar treatment – like the major hotel chain with “poor management” and “staff bullying” or the consultancy giant where “promotion is rare and salary review worthless”. It’s easy to see why candidates are flocking to Glassdoor and its rivals before they fire off a CV.
Glassdoor’s pitch is as a TripAdvisor for jobseekers. Just as travellers rate hotels and resorts for future holidaymakers, so current employees let loose their gripes with organisations, from poor pay to inadequate training. The reviews are anonymous, comprehensive and easily searchable. With 150,000 companies sharing 75 million page views a month on Glassdoor alone, and 90 per cent of candidates reported to read a company review before accepting a job, it’s got most of the market covered.
Transparency ought to be a positive (and bad reviews from staff could be an early warning of wider cultural issues), but it’s not hard to see why Glassdoor’s unfiltered dialogue works against even the best employers. Users are more likely to take to their keyboards if they have a gripe, and it only takes a few embittered former staff members to create a skewed impression. In many entries, localised problems (management issues at a subsidiary business, for example) have become proxies for entire organisations.
What’s an HR manager to do? If you give your employees a voice on social media, rather than ignoring or stifling debate, you can drive workforce collaboration and win trust by being more transparent on important issues, just as some hotels on TripAdvisor engage with negative reviewers or actively encourage feedback, good or bad.
The CIPD report Social media and employee voice highlights the employee engagement opportunities that employer-led social media can bring, including an open channel for employees to feed views, concerns and ideas upwards, and greater knowledge sharing and innovation between employees at all levels. “Employee voice expressed through social media is much more influential because it is more likely to be heard,” says CIPD research adviser Jonny Gifford.
✶ What social media can do for employee voice – see peoplemanagement.co.uk from December 4
2 Social learning could transform your organisation
An end to one-way conversations as video and Twitter sharing come of age
The concept of embedding social media throughout your learning processes can seem daunting – which is probably why only 25 per cent of organisations surveyed in new CIPD research out this month had tried it so far as a route to formal learning. But the results are compelling.
Whether it’s webinars and chat portals, sites for self-directed learning, or even LinkedIn, where people from disparate parts of the organisation can meet in closed groups, the options are expanding. And then there’s the rise of online video. BP has created an internal YouTube equivalent, featuring more than 1,000 videos of best practice. “We have a very active content generation strategy,” says Nick Shackleton-Jones, head of eLearning. “We go round the world, collect the stories and share them. We’ve opened it up gradually – we’re just adding rating and commenting, and eventually staff will be able to upload their own content.”
Many organisations are using the social media model to rethink how they run their internal learning, turning it from didacticism to a genuine conversation. And incorporating social media into informal learning is hugely popular, says the CIPD survey. “Traditionally, our intranet was a broadcast tool,” says Dean Royles, CEO of NHS Employers. “Now it’s going unrestricted: interactivity makes learning much stronger. We want staff to share what they want, both professional and personal.”
“These days prospective employees are looking for a place of learning and social interaction,” says Shackleton-Jones, who describes Twitter as his “number one learning tool”. “Think about the content people need and ask what you can bring to the conversation.”
Random House Group has a Facebook and Twitter presence to share content from training. The idea is to offer tips for, say, running a successful meeting, reinforcing the learning through the social media conversation. “We can also use it to ask others outside the company for their experiences,” says Neil Morrison, UK group HR director. “Social media should be open, shared and collaborative. If you keep the networks internal it contradicts the purpose.”
Where to get started
A corporate wiki can be one of the most immersive and immediate forms of social media: Mediawiki (mediawiki.org) is a free wiki builder that ought to sync with your existing intranet. If you’re working in video, meanwhile, try Adobe Visual Communicator to create news-style presentations or Apple’s Final Cut Pro as an editing tool. OpenMeetings is rated best for building a basic webinar from your desktop.
3 LinkedIn might be your best recruitment tool
Top tips for sharpening your social media hiring practices
LinkedIn has achieved such ubiquity in recruitment, it’s easy to forget that before 2011 it was relatively rare to even consider it when searching for candidates. Today, as it passes the global 200 million-user mark, it’s many organisations’ top recruitment channel and is also an important part of the mix as vetting increasingly moves online (see page 32). If you want to sharpen the way you use LinkedIn, here are a few handy hints:
Choose your advocate
The person posting a job needs to have a professional-looking profile that advocates their organisation. Candidates looking at the role will dig deep: “A good jobseeker will see if they’ve got any connections with the person who posted the job. Maybe they know them, maybe they’re members of the same professional body, or maybe they have a shared connection,” says Paul Harrison, managing partner at social business consultancy Carve. The “Who’s viewed your profile” page will give you a picture of prospective candidates, and those who dropped out – which may help you understand what’s turning jobseekers off.
Think mobile
Candidates are increasingly viewing and applying for roles on mobile devices. Brevity in descriptions will help here, as will the opportunity to upload material via Dropbox or similar services. And if you’re asking visitors to head to your website for more details, it must be optimised for mobile.
Pinpoint your candidates
“We always recommend that recruiters begin with a narrow search,” says Harrison. “If they were looking for a nuclear engineer who has worked at Rolls-Royce and Eon and lives in Birmingham, I would search for that first then start moving backwards.” Competitor organisations and groups can be valuable: if your candidate must have experience of SEO, for instance, there are member groups dedicated to the concept where you can post ads or approach potential hires directly.
Develop your company page
If you’re not a household name, one of jobseekers’ first ports of call will be your organisational LinkedIn page. “One of the mistakes companies make is that they haven’t attended to their own page,” Harrison says. “It’s free to manage and you can update it with news and other facts – which can really make the difference, especially if you’re not a Google or an Oracle.” He advises thinking differently and dynamically, and encouraging employees to build their own profiles – casual browsers are very likely to stop and look at who already works there.
✶ Join the People Management LinkedIn group bit.ly/PMgroup
4 Do you need a social media policy?
Two professionals debate the ins and outs of guidelines
#YES
Clare Whight, MD, SOS-HR
“Employers should take a commonsense approach to developing a policy. The main guidelines should draw the distinction between business and private use of social media and what this actually means. A well-written policy, published and communicated, can help promote awareness and consistency. It can also be an effective management and training tool and help avoid misunderstandings. If you already have guidelines for email and internet usage, you may wish to expand them around security, data protection and monitoring, or acceptable behaviour when using smartphones during work time.”
#NO
Neil Morrison, group HR director, Penguin Random House UK
“You need to ask yourself why you’re putting a policy in place. Is it because you want to safely dismiss people who say bad things about your company or to stop them wasting time? If so, you need to ask yourself why people might be doing these things. Could it be the lack of trust you have in them, or that they’re fed up of policies that tell them what they can’t do but fail to encourage what they should? Social technology should be embraced by businesses. HR teams should spend more time on educating, creating opportunity and leading by example and less time writing another pointless policy.”
5 Choose your platform carefully
The main channels – and what they can do for you
Twitter
Twitter’s 140-character soundbites flow thick and fast, and just listening is a powerful way to keep up with news, events and opinions. Tweet chats are a digital roundtable: offer resources, opinion and tweets from events and your staff gain a reputation for expertise. Check Twitter’s own @jointheflock account to see what’s possible in recruitment.
Facebook
With more than one billion members, Facebook is a natural place to find talent. Particle physics research base CERN has a lively jobs page advertising full-time posts and placements and providing a showcase for its environment and culture. The page has close to 18,000 likes, and is full of memes that prove how recruitment doesn’t need to be formal nowadays.
LinkedIn
The platform of choice for recruiters. As most people aren’t actively looking for a role, it’s a good way to find and influence the passive market. Royal Brompton Hospital recently based a nurse recruitment campaign solely around LinkedIn and Twitter. Companies also use it for discussion groups and, through its “Influencers” programme, learning.
Tumblr
Sitting somewhere between Twitter, Instagram and a blog, Tumblr is an image-led microblogging site with a vast following among creative people – who may be the type you’re looking to recruit. It’s a great way of giving prospective candidates a visual tour of your company culture, or making internal comms a bit more immersive.
Storify
Collate information on a certain topic or event from anywhere on the web and pull it into one coherent piece – using tweets and Instagram images to highlight and brighten – then share and embed it. Storify can be a great way to demonstrate why a new candidate should join your company, or to share a successful event run by one department with staff in another.
Blogs
Blogging (typically via a tool such as WordPress or Blogger) teaches storytelling, research, reflective practice and influencing skills. Fitness First uses its Fitness Firsters platform for staff to share experiences, promoting culture along the way. This is “micro employee referral”: sending positive messages about what it’s like to work somewhere.
YouTube
Video is the stickiest of media when it comes to retaining information, and YouTube is a great free resource for social learning. High quality video has become cheaper to produce, meaning any company can build a reputation for informative content, sharing interviews, presentations and speeches on websites, or via Twitter and Facebook.
Google+
Fans of Google’s social network praise its connectivity, saying it combines the best of other platforms into a “one size fits all” approach – a mix of short messages, posts, links and images or videos. You can tailor communication to suit “circles” and, as it’s Google, use a search function more effective than Facebook’s, which may benefit recruiters.
Yammer An internal chat system: only those with the right domain in their email address will be able to see or join the conversation, which makes it great for strengthening internal networks and kickstarting innovation.
Jabber Find the people you need inside your organisation, see when and how they’re available, and collaborate via voice, video messaging, desktop sharing or conferencing tools.
Jive An internal chat forum – essentially a social intranet where employees can locate each other, and the information they need, across a large and disparate organisation. Used by Thomson Reuters, among others.
Foursquare GPS-enabled app that rewards users for checking in to specific locations. Can be used at recruitment events to attract and reward prospective candidates, or for offering benefits to certain sites.
Scribble Live Find tweets, blogs, photos and video, immediately post them and they are presented to subscribers’ devices in a news bulletin format. Great for showcasing content in a way that helps people to “be there”.
Instagram Photo-sharing app offering filters to make your snaps better – now does 15-second videos too. Companies like Starbucks, Marriott hotels and Yelp all use it to promote their culture.
Vine Mobile app based on the creation and sharing of looping six-second video clips. Great for creating a buzz around your company culture and events.
SoundCloud Primarily a sharing tool for anything audio, SoundCloud is now allowing users to create, upload and market their own podcasts through a new beta service. A free way to make your comms sound more professional.
Pinterest The online equivalent of pinning a newspaper cutting to a cork board, and a good way to create a visual snapshot of an organisation. Tunstall Healthcare’s Pinterest has sections on people it’s helped, its offices and team.
6 Ten HR blogs worth reading
Change-effect
Change-effect.com
Once described as “the most dangerous man in HR”, Penguin Random House’s Neil Morrison turns everyday HR issues into wider considerations for the business.
Mark Beatson’s blog
cipd.co.uk/blogs/members/m.beatson/
default.aspx
The CIPD’s resident economist makes wider workforce and labour market matters relevant to an HR audience.
T Recs
mervyndinnen.wordpress.com
Mervyn Dinnen’s detailed take on social recruitment has something of relevance to every HR and L&D professional.
The HR Juggler
thehrjuggler.wordpress.com
Alison Chisnell, group HR director at Informa, says she is still “finding her voice”, but is winning fans for her unpretentious take on women at work and well-being.
A Range of Reasonable Responses
darrennewman.wordpress.com
Employment law demystified by expert Darren Newman, using refreshingly straightforward language and with a decidedly topical edge.
Adjusted Development
adjusteddevelopment.wordpress.com
CIPD social media adviser Perry Timms is HR’s most enthusiastic blogger, determined to “make a dent in the universe”.
Halls are made for Madness
hallsaremadeformadness.wordpress.com/author/megpeppin/
OD consultant Meg Peppin’s posts are usually prompted by HR issues in the news or recent research, with a strong flavour of workplace inclusion and transparency.
Flip Chart Fairy Tales
flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com
Near-the-knuckle missives on the world of work in one of the longest-standing and most-referenced HR blogs.
HR Ringleader
hrringleader.com
Passionately argued posts by US-based HR stalwart Trish McFarlane on performance management, learning and beyond.
HR Gem
hrgem.wordpress.com
Accessible dispatches from the HR front line, as Gemma Reucroft shares insight on leadership, engagement and more.
7 When social media bites back
Four notorious disasters – and how they could have been avoided
When employees undergo a meltdown on social media, it’s impossible to keep the cat in the bag. From Twitter tirades to inadvisable Facebook jokes, the damage to corporate reputations can be colossal: just ask the numerous fast food operators in the US who saw customer numbers drop when staff began a trend earlier this year of photographing themselves licking food and posting the pictures online. While that might be grounds for (literally) gross misconduct, staff this side of the pond can be found using social networks in equally unappealing ways.
LinkedIn openness leads to hot water
The problem HR manager John Flexman faced disciplinary action after he uploaded his CV, which told how he had reduced the company’s attrition rates, to LinkedIn. His then employer, BG Group, was unhappy that he had shared commercial information and said he had breached a social media policy by ticking a box saying he was interested in other career opportunities. Flexman later won a constructive dismissal case at tribunal.
The lesson “I would never put commercially sensitive information on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn,” says Alastair Swindlehurst, HR director at marketing management firm APS Group. But this case demonstrates why it’s important to explain what is and isn’t appropriate, particularly when it comes to sharing internal information on social networks – if in doubt, have a policy and make sure it’s understood.
Offensive yoof tweeting causes media storm
The problem When Britain’s first youth police and crime commissioner, Paris Brown, was appointed it didn’t take the tabloids long to uncover racist, homophobic and violent tweets. Kent Police, who had hired Brown for the paid role, faced trial by media.
The lesson “It’s not realistic or even appropriate to audit the social media backgrounds of every single person joining your organisation,” says Paul Harrison, managing partner of social business consultancy Carve Consulting. But even people who aren’t conventional employees (such as contractors and volunteers) need to understand they represent your organisation. “What we should do more is say to people: ‘Your footprint is our footprint – it doesn’t matter whether it says on your Twitter stream that your tweets are your own, you are a de facto associate of the company.’”
Live commentary on mass redundancies
The problem Twitter users were treated to on insider view of the redundancy process at HMV when one of its staff decided to share all on the official company account. Comments posted in real time included: “We’re tweeting live from HR where we’re all being fired! Exciting! #hmvXFactorFiring”, and “There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution of loyal employees who love the brand.”
The lesson Scenario planning for negative events such as large-scale redundancies ought to include analysis of social media fallout. Who has access to your channels and what might they say? All of which was anathema to HMV as events escalated, with one executive infamously asking for Twitter to be “turned off”. “The worst thing HMV did was not tackling the tweets head on,” says Swindlehurst, who feels the company didn’t understand what was happening until it was too late.
Tasteless images on Facebook page
The problem Pictures of prison officers on a night out that were posted on Facebook prompted the sacking of one and action against four others at Wandsworth Prison. The reason? They were wearing T-shirts saying: We Have Madeleine McCann. Their employer’s code of conduct made it a disciplinary offence to bring the prison service into disrepute using social media.
The lesson “Employers must try to help people to understand what they should and shouldn’t do,” says Swindlehurst. But sometimes staff have to assume their actions might be seen by a wider audience, even at a ‘private’ event. “It’s not enough to say you never got the policy. Can you defend what you’re doing to your mother, or a judge? If not, it’s probably bad.”
8 Why you should join CIPD Communities
Celebrating 10 years of the HR professionals’ network
They’re one of the most important and trusted destinations for HR professionals in search of advice, or just a friendly ear. The CIPD Professional Communities message boards are 10 years old in January. Here’s why you should get involved…
They’re helpful Over the years, the Communities have evolved into a peer-to-peer network offering a helping hand to HR professionals with nowhere else to turn for advice. “It’s about the convening power of the CIPD to help members discover each other,” says CIPD Communities manager, Steve Bridger. The Communities came into their own in 2010, when the Europe-wide ash cloud sent HR departments into overdrive: one conversation on the topic was viewed more than 10,000 times.
They’re popular There are more than 2,000 posts in the average month, and 6,000 unique visitors.
They’re fun Recent discussions have included being “too nice for HR” and whether it’s acceptable to bring an animal to work. But they also tackle the big topics, from mediation and employment law to corporate strategy.
✶ CIPD Professional Communities cipd.co.uk/community
9 Turn it off (occasionally)
How to fit social media into your working life – without missing out on what matters
Comedian Andy Parsons has a new routine in which he likens our obsession with checking our social media status all day to constantly opening the front door just to see if anyone’s coming up the path. But the consequences of being “always on” are no laughing matter. Even the doyenne of internet collaboration, Arianna Huffington, has become concerned at how connected we are, encouraging her staff to take regular technology breaks and asking: “If you work from everywhere, are you supposed to work all the time?”
On one level, social media is just human nature. “More people are engaging with their jobs in their own time thanks to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn,” says Dean Royles of NHS Employers. “But the way our work flows is more fluid than the old, industrial clocking on and off approach acknowledged. In that model, walking down the corridor chatting about X Factor counts as work as it’s 10am and you’re in the office, but lying in bed mulling issues doesn’t because it’s the middle of the night. Social media provides a vehicle that’s more attuned to how people actually operate.”
What stops us finding a balance between social media and the offline world is the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) – the idea that there’s a conversation we need to be part of. “Social media is about working out loud in an open and collaborative environment,” says Belinda Gannaway of digital transformation consultancy NixonMcInnes. “This is a big change for many people, but it offers so many benefits in terms of productivity, innovation and enjoyment.” We need to get away from the idea of needing to constantly “check” tools such as Twitter and Facebook, she adds.
“Social media can extend your network,” says Gannaway. “But it’s important to spot the point at which you need to meet someone face to face to deepen the connection.” The trick is to pick a platform or two that work for you, and resist the pressure to be producing informative and entertaining content all the time. And if social media is taking over your work, personal life or both, start setting times you’re going to use it – and when you’re going to step away.
34
Number of times the average Brit checks their phone or tablet each day
✶ Get social with Dean Royles, Neil Morrison and other online enthusiasts at the CIPD’s Social Media in HR conference on 4 December in London bit.ly/socmedCIPD ✶ The CIPD’s new social media report, Social technology, social business?, will be available from 4 December at bit.ly/CIPDsocsur ✶ A CIPD podcast, Social media: what’s the point for work?, will also be available from 4 December at cipd.co.uk/podcasts ✶ Recruitment Using Social Media – a one-day course from the CIPD bit.ly/recsocCIPD
The way it used to be
Activities in decline due to social media, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research
Parties and socialising
Relaxing and thinking
Travel and cultural enrichment
Sleeping