Provides an introduction to popular social media platforms, current social media trends in HR, uses for internal social media, and guidelines for creating a social media policy.

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Social Media
and HR
By: Adriana Costello
@JumpstartHR | www.jumpstart-hr.com

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Overview
 Introduction to social media
 Current trends
 Social media applications
 Uses for social media in HR
 Social media tools for HR
 Social media policies
 Why have a policy?
 Legal guidelines
 Tips for drafting a policy
 10 must-haves

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What is Social Media?
“Forms of electronic
communication…through which users
create online communities to share
information, ideas, personal
messages, and other content.”
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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Popular Social Media Platforms
Facebook is a social networking website
intended to connect friends, family and
business associates.
Twitter is a social messaging service for
sending and receiving short messages
(140 characters) in real time.
LinkedIn is a social networking community
for business contacts.
YouTube is a video-sharing website on
which users can upload and view videos.

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Current Trends
 83% of HR professionals agree that social media
technologies can improve communication, bring
greater efficiency to the workplace and provide great
insight about people’s interests and motivations.
 While HR professionals worry about how employees
will use these technologies, 69% say their
organizations do not have an official social media
policy.
Source: Birkman

6. “The core benefits of social media are
rooted in the HR world, with specific
attributes like people, communication
and community, social media should be
part of the HR department’s everyday
working life…They are tools that can
rapidly enhance in-house
communication and drive up HR
efficiency and overall employee
engagement.”
– Elva Ainsworth, HRZone

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How can HR use Social Media?
 Retain and engage employees by providing them a more
intimate connection with your organization.
 Encourage innovation and hasten implementation of new
ideas.
 Train and develop employees more efficiently and in a
manner that is more conducive to learning.
 Reward and publically acknowledge exemplary behavior.
 Develop more relevant company policy by easily
including your employees’ feedback.
Source: The Duffy Agency

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Tapping Collective Intelligence
 Social media is a powerful collaboration tool.
 Companies can discover novel solutions to major
challenges by “tapping the intelligence” of employees.
 Example: Online-collaboration events aimed at solving
specific problems.
 Managers can post pertinent issues to be addressed over a
set time period.
 Employees (and even alumni) can be engaged to log on and
suggest solutions.
Source: Randy MacDonald, HRE Online

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Sharing Knowledge
 Social media allows colleagues to share and build on each
other’s experiences, insights and personal networks.
 Encourage knowledge sharing:
 Identify employees who are influencers, trend-spotters and
game-changers, and network them with other employees to
create action and further dissemination of information.
 Create internal online marketplaces where employees can list
their skills.
 Use tracking technologies that create profiles of employees (and
former employees), the kinds of projects they work on, and their
impact, and make that information public to other employees.
Source: Randy MacDonald, HRE Online

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Building Strong Ties
 The core of social media is building strong connections.
 Supportive communities are going to be a more important part
of business culture in the future.
 Example: Succeeding@IBM
 Program for new employees (first 6-12 months).
 Social-networking group for collaborating on topics and getting to
know others outside their own departments.
 Helps improve global networking skills.
 Gives new employees a broader base of knowledge to tap into as
they adapt to their new jobs and company culture.
Source: Randy MacDonald, HRE Online

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Social Media Tools for HR
 Facebook: Communication platform where
employees can comfortably interact with each other
and receive corporate information. Breaks down
corporate barriers and allows employees to interact
with HR in an authentic environment.
 Twitter:Provides employees with short, quick news
feeds that can be taken on-the-go. HR should use
this channel to get in touch with the largest number
of employees over the shortest period of time.
Source: Elva Ainsworth, HRzone

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Social Media Tools for HR
 YouTube: HR can use videos to communicate with
and provide instructions to employees. Staff are far
more likely to engage with, and respond positively to
an instructional video that clearly demonstrates how
to fill out an online survey, than an email with
instructions.
 LinkedIn: Creating corporate groups is an excellent
way to foster meaningful discussions, share relevant
news and encourage networking among current and
past employees.
Source: Elva Ainsworth, HRzone

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Why have a social media policy?
 Protect the organization against liability for the actions of its
workers.
 Give clear guidelines for employees on what they can and
cannot say about the company.
 Help employees draw a line between their private and
professional lives.
 Comply with the law on discrimination, data protection and
protecting the health of employees.
 Be clear about sensitive issues like monitoring and explain
how disciplinary rules and sanctions will be applied.
Source: Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service

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Why have a social media policy?
 Employers need to inform employees that they have no right to
privacy with respect to social networking. Use of social media can
be monitored by employers regardless of location (i.e. at work vs.
at home).
 Employees should know that company policies on anti-
harassment, ethics and loyalty cover all forms of internal and
external communication.
 “When you give all of your employees the ability to interact with
the whole world…you have to provide them with some training on
how to use it properly and effectively.”
 Example: Zappos encourages employees to use Twitter to interact with
customers and actually trains them on the proper use of Twitter during
new-hire orientation.
Source: SharlynLauby, Mashable

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Legal Guidelines
 Social media policies should not be so broad that they prohibit
activities protected by federal law including:
 discussion of working conditions or wages.
 concerted activity among employees.
 You cannot discipline an employee for clicking the "Like" button
on Facebook.
 You cannot generally prohibit employees from discussing the
company, its employees or competitors (even if the comments
are disparaging).
 You cannot sweepingly prohibit employees from using the
company’s logos or photographs.
Source: National Labor Relations Board

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Who owns social contacts?
 An employer may not claim an employee’s social media
contacts (i.e. LinkedIn contacts, Facebook friends and Twitter
followers) when the employee leaves.
 Employees own their social media accounts and contacts
becausebuilding a social media profile involves employees
using their own voice and personal networks.
 An employee’s social media contacts are not “trade secrets.”
Contact information is easier than ever to obtain, so its value is
greatly diminished.
Source: Heather Bussing, HRExaminer

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Tips for Drafting a SoMe Policy
 It is ok to prohibit employees from sharing confidential and
proprietary information online.
 Do not rely on a disclaimer to rescue an overly-broad social
media policy.
 e.g. “Nothing in this policy shall be construed to limit your rights
under any applicable federal, state or local laws.”
 Policies are best written as guidelines, not rules, so as not to
violate the U.S. National Labor Relations Act.
 As with any policy, HR should provide training and education.
 “You can’t always trust that everyone’s going to read the policy.”
Source: Eric B. Meyer, Labor and Employment Attorney

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10 Must-Haves for a SoMe Policy
1. Introduce the purpose of social media. Focus on what
employees can rather than what they can’t do.
2. Be responsible for what you write. Exercise good judgment
and common sense.
3. Be authentic. Let people know who you are on social media
outlets (i.e. name, position, company).
4. Consider your audience. Readers include current
clients, potential clients, as well as current/past/future
employees. Consider that before you publish and make sure
you aren’t alienating any of those groups.
Source: SharlynLauby, Mashable

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10 Must-Haves for a SoMe Policy
5. Exercise good judgment. This is crucial regardless of whether
an employee’s online comments relate directly to their job.
6. Understand the concept of community. Support is key. Learn
how to balance personal and professional information, and
recognize the importance of transparency.
7. Respect copyrights and fair use. Always give people proper
credit for their work, and make sure you have the right to use
something with attribution before you publish.
Source: SharlynLauby, Mashable

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10 Must-Haves for a SoMe Policy
8. Protect confidential & proprietary info. Employees who share
confidential or proprietary information do so at the risk of
losing their job and possibly ending up in court.
9. Bring value. Add value to your followers, readers, fans, users
and customers.
10. Productivity matters. In order for your social media endeavors
to be successful, you need to find the right balance between
social media and other work.
Source: SharlynLauby, Mashable

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A Sample Blogging Policy
“Be professional.”
Source: Jay Shepherd, Gruntled Employees

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A Sample Twitter Policy*
Our Twitter policy: Be
professional, kind, discreet, authenti
c. Represent us well. Remember
that you cannot control it once you
hit “Tweet.”
*In 140 characters.
Source: Jay Shepherd, JayShep

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Key Takeaways
 Social media is not a fad, and it is in the best interests of HR
professionals to embrace these technologies.
 HR professionals can use social media to increase
engagement, enhance communication, encourage innovation
and collaboration among employees.
 Organizations need social media policies to clearly
communicate employee responsibilities and to encourage
proper and effective use of social media tools.
 Policy writers must ensure that policies are not so broad as to
infringe upon employees’ legal rights.

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www.jumpstart-hr.com
@JumpstartHR
(301) 244-8577