web 2.0

Social media = time management? (Part 3)

November 10, 2009 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

Connected employees are ambassadors for their employers. Some employers might find this frightening, but it is also inevitable. Some companies will worry about the message that their employees are spreading across their social networks and the Internet, and complain about their inability to control it; but others would pay good money for employees who are so engaged that they will work at all hours and act as corporate social media ambassadors at all times.

employment standards, facebook, Generation Y, generational differences, IT controls, productivity, social media, social networking, web 2.0

Social media = time management? (Part 2)

November 4, 2009 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

Social media are new, and their value is not entirely clear, especially to businesses that are doing just fine as they are, thank you very much. Heck, it’s even possible that blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other Web 2.0 and social networking services will turn out to be passing fads, in which case, maybe companies that ignore them will have the last laugh on the matter. I don’t know about that, but I will say this: the generation that grew up on the Internet and began to enter the labour market over the last decade is unlikely to want to shift to a way of doing things that doesn’t involve the Internet and its associated applications and gadgets. And their children—well, who can say how connected they’ll be. It would take an extremely authoritarian approach to return to the workplace of our parents, and likely an approach that looks backward rather than ahead. But enough of prediction, let’s talk about some interesting stuff!

business strategy, employment standards, facebook, Generation Y, generational differences, hours of work, LinkedIn, productivity, social media, social networking, twitter, web 2.0

Social media = time management? (Part 1)

October 28, 2009 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

To a casual observer, it might appear that time management has fallen to the wayside at many workplaces today: employees work well beyond their scheduled hours, including while on lunch breaks, during leisure time and social events and even on vacation. But with proper scheduling, time management should prevent work from expanding beyond regular work hours—as was the case before the Internet age. Instead, in the “knowledge economy”, where the smart phone rules, scheduled work hours have become nearly meaningless.

cellphone use, facebook, generational differences, hours of work, IT controls, productivity, social media, social networking, social web, time management, twitter, web 2.0

Social media in the workplace: Oh what to do!? (part 2)

October 5, 2009 Adam Gorley Human Resources, Privacy and Security

Some companies have applied traditional methods to the problem of social media at work: the soft approach attempts to monitor and regulate via policies; and the hard approach simply slams the door on employee access and use with a heavy hand. Neither of these works particularly well. The former will almost certainly lead to employee confusion and efforts—either intentional or not—to circumvent the policy, and the latter will likely result in discontented employees finding other ways to work around the blockade. In addition, both are difficult, if not impossible, to enforce fully; and attempts to bypass or evade controls could even lead to damage of physical or virtual IT resources.

communications, content filtering, employee conduct, facebook, IM, instant messaging, policy, social media, social networking, twitter, web 2.0

Social media in the workplace: Oh what to do!?

October 1, 2009 Adam Gorley Human Resources, Privacy and Security

If you’re reading this blog post, I’ll bet that you’re at work, on company time. Should you feel bad about that? I’d like to believe that what you’re reading has value, and will add to your understanding of today’s workplace and HR practices, and maybe that’s justification enough. But I wouldn’t be surprised if, besides reading blogs, you also looked at your Facebook account and maybe even sent a few tweets while at work. What’s your justification for that?

business strategy, facebook, generational differences, policies and procedures, policy, social media, twitter, web 2.0