Social Media for Workplace Relationships
Social Media is being used by almost everyone now, whether at home, school, college or workplace. According to a report from Pew Research Centre, 73% of Americans use at least one of eight popular social media platforms, which include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. However, organisations draw a fine line when it comes to use of social media at work. It can be a boon to company when used appropriately, it can also be a drain on employees' productivity. So companies should take a good care when it comes to creating social media policies.
Social Media has many benefits for building good workplace relationships. The use of social media in the workplace can build strong relationships, either between employees and customers or clients and between employees. When co-workers have stronger personal relationships, they often work more efficiently as a team. They might also begin to see their co-workers as friends, which can increase their satisfaction in coming to work every day. It is a good way to communicate effectively beyond emails and phones. Employees may feel they have more of a voice when their postings and comments are actively encouraged. Because social media is accessible almost anywhere, the staff is able to interact with one another even when not at work. The ability to interact outside of work will help boost employee morale and engagement.
Despite social media has many benefits for building strong workplace relationships, there are some potential issues too with mixing personal social media platforms with workplace relationships. Some employees may post comments due to which someone may feel being bullied or harassed. Sometimes, there might be some issues at work and employees might go their personal social media to express their anxiety or anger which can affect the reputation of company they are working in and may affect relationships of the company with others as well.
To deal with these issues, companies should impose some policies related to the use of social media for their employees. The policies should state that negative comments which identify their employees create an intimidating or humiliating environment will be dealt with under the disciplinary procedure. They can impose restrictions too. The restriction can prevent employees from posting material or comments which may be seen as offensive, or have a detrimental effect on the organisation. This will allow the organisation to take action against them if they breach the policy.
Lastly, it can be said that Social Media has many benefits for building work relationships but to handle its negative sides, companies can make use of policies and restrictions so that it always come out as a boon for them.
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