Sunday, February 13, 2011

Social "Not"working - Are Your Employees Taking an Extra Lunch Break?

Are your employees taking an extra lunch break?  Social "Not"working is the phrase coined to describe the time lost by employees checking social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and LinkedIn.  It is estimated that 50% of employees spend at least one hour per day on these sites AT WORK - which is the equivalent to an extra lunch break.

Here are some interesting tidbits from Nucleus Research regarding just Facebook:

  • Those who access Facebook at work do so for an average of 15 minutes daily, with the range as low as one minute and as high as 120 minutes.

  • 13 percent claimed to have a business reason for accessing Facebook; 87 percent couldn’t define a clear business reason for doing so.

Do you have a policy regarding social networking?  A thorough social media policy is needed to emphasize the importance of using time and resources wisely as well as protecting an employer's reputation and confidential information.  With the infatuation of social media on the rise, the time is now to have a proper policy in place.

Does your company have a social media policy in place?  Has it been communicated to your employees and are they following it?  How much time do you think your employees spend on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Linkedin?  Love to hear your thoughts!

Monica Z. Austin, MBA, SPHR
The Hopkins Group, LLC
Human Resources Business Solutions
214-537-7524
http://www.linkedin.com/in/monicazaustin
http://twitter.com/monicazaustin
maustin@hopkinshr.com
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1 comment:

  1. Jesse TorresFebruary 22, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    Monica,

    Good post. Depending on your point of view, social media is now a ubiquitous technology. We cannot escape it.

    The omnipresent characteristic of social media has begun to create very significant challenges to organizations, not only from the productivity perspective, but from the legal perspective.

    Existing state and federal laws and related court cases are already creating a set of social media-related employment case law that every employer must be aware of in order to safely navigate this new environment.

    Whether you decide to permit social media usage in the workplace, you need to have an understanding of the underlying risks. Further, deciding not to use social media in the workplace does not eliminate workplace social media risks as employee will make use of the technology through smartphones and other devices. Further, organizations have no control over employees on their own time.

    A significant amount of organizational damage can occur during the off-hours.

    I would recommend that anyone interested in mitigating social media risk pick up a copy of "Human Resources Guide to Social Media Risks" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1456533126). The book will provide an understanding of these new and evolving risks.

    Jesse Torres
    "Human Resources Guide to Social Media Risks"
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1456533126

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