Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  1  

   

In 2013, I launched my first social media workplace survey asking my Blogging4Jobs.com readers to weigh in on how they are using social media as an HR and recruiting professionals in their own organizations. The results you see here are preliminary findings released as part of my SHRM 2014 Mega Session titled, “How to Integrate Social Media and Technology Into Your Workplace Communication & Engagement Strategy.” Our survey asked our readers questions about how they use social media in their daily workplace lives. The majority of our readers are human resources practitioners from mid-size to larger organizations. My hope is that these results can give you insights into how organizations are using social media beyond the obvious use of social media recruiting. My goal is to provide the human resource industry with a resource that seeks to look as objectively as possible on the HR and recruiting landscape in how they use, adopt and integrate social media into their workplaces. In this preview, I have provided a small amount of background as well as a look into three findings that I highlighted during my session presentation at SHRM. Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR Founder & Chief Blogger of Blogging4Jobs

   

     

Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  2  

     

A quick look at Figure 1 on the right shows you exactly who are average reader of Blogging4Jobs really is. The large majority of our readers and survey respondents are experienced and senior level. These professionals come from a variety of backgrounds including the government, education, hospitality, manufacturing and retail. We are a diverse group of professionals and the survey respondents reflect this certainly.

Figure 1: Blogging4Jobs Reader Analysis

WHO ARE OUR SURVEY RESPONDANTS?

USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA AT WORK For myself there are seven categories where I lump social media into the workplace. The seven are demonstrated in the figure on the next page. It is important to point out that my point of view is that social media use goes far beyond standard tweeting and Facebook messaging for the purposes of engagement and communication. There are literally thousands of tools currently available or in beta that organizers can choose from in their workplace communication strategies. Technology and tool selection is sometimes more challenging than understanding the ways in which they can be used internally.

   

     

Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  3  

   

 

   

These seven uses of social media and their adoption depend on an organization’s own individual use and goals that suits the needs of the intended audience whether it is candidates for open positions or employees.

MOST IMPORTANT USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA When asked, our survey respondents listed the most important uses for social media at work as follows:

1) Employment Branding 2) Recruitment and Hiring 3) Distribution and Communication

While I am not surprised by the results, the goal of this particular brief is to focus on the use of social media beyond external recruiting of job seekers, which you will see.

Figure 2: Uses of Social Media at Work

   

     

Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  4  

When pressed for specific use and benefit beyond recruiting, those surveyed outlined three areas of opportunity. In my SHRM session presentation, we discussed three uses for the purposes of work collaboration and work announcements including internal blogging, podcasting and the use of text messaging to engage those attending specific work meetings as well as emergency and disaster preparedness which stems from my own personal experience having survived the May 20th tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. One of the biggest challenges with a workforce is maintaining effective communication with your employees. Whether it is for the purposes of team meetings, a change in employee benefit programs or internal job openings, technology as well as social media can be used to engage your employees in different ways.  

 

Figure 3: Top Internal Social Media Uses

   

     

Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  5  

   

ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AT WORK Whether or not companies realize, social media is already happening at their workplace. Sites like Glassdoor.com use social media and a crowd sourced community. Apps like Earful, a new mobile app on iTunes, allow employees at the workplace to share and communicate anonymously. In short, the engagement is already happening. It is really up to your leadership team to make a choice of how you will educate, engage and provide a platform and opportunity to communicate. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth outlined in their 2013 Social Media Fortune 500 report that 34 percent of the Fortune 500 companies are now actively blogging, 77 percent maintain an active Twitter account and 70 percent have Facebook Pages.i These numbers do not reflect workplace use of social media in that the majority of corporate marketing teams leverage social media for customer engagement and acquisition.

Figure 4: Employee Access to Social Media

   

     

Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  6  

Our own research seen in Figure 4, found that nearly 83 percent of companies allow for access of social media at work. While adoption of social media for marketing and customer engagement purposes is extremely high, only 44 percent of companies listed their work as an average user of social media. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed listed their organization at above average.

Figure 5: Social Media Use & Adoption

CONCLUSION In the HR and workplace industries, the use of social media is still relatively new. Even with a large percentage of workplaces leveraging social media, most are relying on the basics to engage their employees internally. For organizations that are just getting started or have yet to adopt social media internally, a small window of opportunity still exists regardless of an organizations size where companies can quickly catch up and begin leveraging the new engagement and social landscape for their company.  

   

     

Blogging4Jobs  2014  Workplace  Social  Media  Survey,  Page  7  

                                                                                                                   i  Barnes,  Nora.  LinkedIn  Rules  But  Sales  Potential  May  Lie  With  Twitter.  2013.  University  of  Massachusetts  Dartmouth.  http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/socialmediaresearch/2013inc500/