Depending on what statistics you believe, somewhere between 75% and 90% of U.S. companies severely limit or altogether exclude employee participation on the social web. And while there should certainly be guidelines in place for any employee activity that occurs during company time, we feel the benefits of unleashing “employee power” far outweigh the risks.
Maybe it’s time to ask your company why it’s not supporting employee engagement and learning through social networks. Companies using the social web in the right way share three best practices:
Social media policy. An effective policy should accomplish two things. First, it should mitigate risk and provide clear guidelines for engagement. But it should also be a document that encourages employees to explore and grow in a responsible manner.
Reasonable security — Corporate security and IT integrity is paramount and cannot be compromised. Still, there are smart ways to manage the firewall for the social web without compromising trade secrets or putting the company at risk.
Training — Instead of having employees fumble around, why not train them to be highly-effective users of social networks? For example, a systematic approach to workforce branding on LinkedIn can become a competitive weapon for your commercial efforts, but not without a coordinated effort. Similarly, training on how to handle competitive issues, how to represent the company appropriately, and tips and time-savers all can help your company gain competitive advantage through effectively corralling the social web.
How is your company approaching responsible use of the social web?
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