Guest Blogger Pauline Tarrant on #CIPDsocial13
HR Gets Social: CIPD HR Social Media Conference 2013
The social season is well and truly upon us, as is the social scene, the social media scene that is.
We have truly moved from communication version 1.0 (Encyclopedia Britanica if you wish) to version 2.0 (Wikipedia) where communication and information is delivered in an instant to our computer or mobile device. In fact with smart phones becoming a constant presence in many of our lives we have now hit the point where accessing the internet via mobile device has overtaken that from a conventional computer (are your HR sites formatted for mobile?).
The shift into the ‘late majority’ bell curve for mobile access means that social media access is also closer at hand and this can be something rather wonderful.
A platform such as Jive or Yammer can remove cross functional/geographical communication barriers and boost trust within a workplace. Recent McKinsey research has found that enhancing collaboration and communication created 2/3 of the value created by social media, so we’re talking about value creation here, not just a ‘nice to have’.
Boots The Chemist in the UK found it helped to combat fraud. Unusual vouchers thought to be fake prompted an online discussion amongst stores and a communication to all staff was issued within 24 hours regarding these attempted fraudulent transactions. This process would usually have taken 2 weeks for the organization to identify the issue and communicate out to teams.
Another example of social media helping Boots The Chemist is the enhancement of procurement intelligence. A One Direction hairdryer offered a great add-on purchase with the One Direction perfume, stores had run out of stock and were told that no further stock was to be made available. That was until the purchasing team came across Yammer posts from employees discussing the significant demand for the product. After a little discussion the purchasing team reversed their original decision and obtained further stock further boosting sales in store.
And finally a warning. Please don’t ever censor content! Often your other employees have a low tolerance for unreasonable and negative comments, their defense of a company is far more valued by their peers than the MD’s corporate coms stepping in with bland propaganda or even worse removing the comment and thereby removing the voice of your people.
If this topic has really got you thinking please watch out for the release of So Me and You, a Social Media in the Workplace whitepaper to be launched in the New Year by Pauline Tarrant Consulting.
