Should I block employee access to social media?

02
Jul

I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked by small business owners if they should block social media access to their staff. My answer is always no. Social media represents an enormous opportunity for small businesses to increase sales, better connect with customers and partners, and market themselves in a cost-efficient manner. Besides, if you block social media platforms at your work, your staff will simply use their phones to access Facebook.

Below is a quick table of common misconceptions and the reality:

Misconception	Reality
Employees will spend all day on Facebook and ignore their work.	Employees when trusted will still deliver on their KPIs, and networking is a good thing for business.Besides, they will access social media by phone if you block it.
Confidential information will leak out; data security will be compromised.	Email and idle conversations present a similar risk. The issue here isn’t the technology but appropriate policies for staff about confidentiality.
Social media can’t be used in heavily regulated industries like pharmaceuticals or finance.	Whilst these organisations require additional processes, there are countless examples of how these platforms have been positively utilized by both pharmaceutical and finance organizations.
My employee base is not young and doesn’t use social media.	There are 10.9 million people on Facebook in Australia, 4.2 million between the ages of 40 and 65. They do use social media.

So if there is no way stopping your staff using social media whilst at work, how do you ensure they are doing so responsibly and not placing you or your business in any potential harm? Below are five tips:

Create a social media policy. Every organisation with employees should have a social media policy, regardless if the organisation itself has its own social media presence. Employees need to be aware of appropriate behaviour in relation to your business on their own Facebook and other social media platforms.
Focus on behaviours, not platforms. Make the policy simple and behaviour orientated, not platform orientated. Platforms change quickly, behaviours don’t.
Focus on dos, not don’ts. Make your policies about dos, not don’ts (credit for this tip to Chris Gross). This ensures the policy focuses on the right kind of behaviour rather than on the wrong behaviour. It’s a small but valuable point.
Create training for your staff. HR procedures are often only read when joining a company. Don’t assume your employees understand their responsibilities in social media just because there is a policy on it. Review the policy with your staff on an annual basis, and make the training interactive and engaging.
Think beyond a simple text document. As mentioned above, boring staff policies are rarely read, let alone understood. Think about creative ways you can bring your policy to life. This example from The Department of Justice social media policy video is a particular favourite of mine.

Let me know if these are useful in the comment box. I would love to hear if you plan to use any of these with your staff or how you have approached social media use among staff.

Matthew Gain | Director, Brand and Digital Marketing – Edelman

What others are saying

MYOB

Lauren Ridgway Social Media Manager

July 2, 2012 at 1:50 pm

Great article Matthew and some fantastic common sense thinking. The University of Melbourne released a study a couple of years back that actually showed that using social media sites at work increased employee productivity which is interesting: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2009/04/reuters_us_work_internet_tech_life.
I have lots of friends who work for large organisations such as banks and insurance companies who have blocked access to social media sites. You’re right, they just use their phones instead!

- Author
  
  Matthew Gain
  
  July 2, 2012 at 10:02 pm
  
  Thanks for your comment Lauren. Interesting study from the University of Melbourne.
  
Author

Paul Hassing Founder & Senior Writer - The Feisty Empire

July 2, 2012 at 2:01 pm

I’m with Lauren! Your post really nailed this, Matthew. And that video is a beaut. I’ll be recommending both to any agonising managers I come across in future. Many thanks! P.

- Author
  
  Matthew Gain
  
  July 2, 2012 at 10:03 pm
  
  It is a great video isn’t it. We are working with a few clients at work right now to come up with something similar.
  
Author

Elizabeth Salter

July 2, 2012 at 5:01 pm

Love that video! I haven’t thought about a social media policy before, but that info is very useful and I’ll have to formulate one. Hopefully it won’t be just a boring text document.

- Author
  
  Matthew Gain
  
  July 2, 2012 at 10:04 pm
  
  Even a boring text document is better than nothing. Though surely you can be a little more creative.
  
  Thanks for your comment Elizabeth.
  
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  Paul Hassing Founder & Senior Writer - The Feisty Empire
  
  July 2, 2012 at 10:17 pm
  
  Fer sure. It reminded me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D08URtovG5s&feature=plcp … and that’s a BIG compliment.
  
Author

Mark Batchelor

July 2, 2012 at 11:20 pm

Great post Matthew, and the social policy video hit’s the mark nicely.

Presenting this approach to senior managements teams will help evolve the culture with organisations that still are slow to embrace a transparent and more open way of working. Given this was produced by a government department for it’s employees, should be a source of inspiration for management teams operating within the traditional ‘command & control’ cultures.

Author

Des Walsh Social Media Strategist & Business Coach

July 4, 2012 at 10:51 am

As others have said, excellent post, Matthew.

You make a good point about text documents not being read and the value of establishing policy and practice creatively. At the same time, employers need something “in writing”, as I believe employees do, if for no other reason than against the day when there is a difference of opinion about whether something should not have been done.

One way to get people to read what’s in text form is to enlist everyone’s engagement in the writing. And I don’t mean getting the company lawyer to present something for discussion! I mean creating the document collaboratively. But if there is a document, a company can use that as a starting point for a collaborative effort. IBM has been doing that since at least 2008 and again in 2010 when they engaged their staff in a rerview of what had started out in 2005 as blogging guidelines and are now their Social Computing Guidelines (a great model, by the way, even for the micro-est of small businesses). http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

Author

Carolyn King

July 13, 2012 at 9:49 am

Really succinct answer. I like the suggestion to focus on dos not don’ts – build positive policies, not walls. The video is a great example of enlivening staff comms, thanks for sharing the link.

- Author
  
  Matthew Gain
  
  July 16, 2012 at 10:18 pm
  
  Thanks for your comment Carolyn.