Social media in the workforce

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A new study by Microsoft found that the adoption of social media at work can increase worker productivity. As positive as that may sound, the study did also say that 30% of workers underestimate the use of social media. The global survey, conducted for Microsoft by research firm Ipsos of 10,000 respondents, is a bid by Microsoft to research the role of social media within organizations and, in particular, how they are used by workers. Considering it’s International Social Media Day, we thought it would be helpful if we highlighted the most interesting parts of the study and offered tips on how to properly promote social media use by your employees.

Impact on Productivity

When employees were asked if their productivity levels had increased, or decreased, as a result of social media use 84% of workers in China reported high levels of productivity. The United States come in at 34%, with the U.K. on 35%. Not surprisingly, the younger the cohort surveyed the more likely they were to see productivity gains from their use of social media at work. There were a number of categories of usage of social media outlined but they can be summarised into two broad categories, communication and research. Communicating with colleagues and clients including sharing documents were popular across territories and demographics as were the research into clients, own colleagues and own company.

“Practically everyone uses social media, and most workers use them at work,” said Microsoft’s Nancy Baym in a blog post about the survey. “We’re starting to understand the very premise- that social media usage inhibits productivity- is a myth.”

Businesses, in the past, have had a difficult relationship with social media with many companies banning its usage in the workplace. However as social media has matured it has become more and more central to business goals and therefore should not be feared by management but instead harnessed. You could allow staff to create their own user names linked to your company brand, and therefore reap the benefits if they are finding an audience. Or you could decide to allow them update their personal networks, with subtle links to your brand. If your workers, as the study states, are going to be more productive by being allowed some social freedom, maybe that’s not a bad thing!

The Value of Social Media

According to the survey, employers “do not seem to recognize the value of social tools,” and more than one-third of respondents believe their company “underestimates the benefits of these tools.” 77% of workers believe the utilisation of social media tools can increase productivity, when it comes to worker collaboration however, the number takes a dip to 40%.

So workers are clearly convinced of the merits of social for communication and for research purposes but maybe a bit more ambivalent about the merits in terms of worker collaboration.

As a manager, you may be asking ‘what do these numbers mean for me?’, well without the proper utilisation of social media, the awareness of your brand may suffer and the capability of your workers to do their jobs may be diminished. What you should note, is that as of 2015 all of the major corporations are involved and deeply integrated with social media.

What can you do? You can start to look at social media as a tool, to sell and communicate. You can also look at internal options, allowing staff to use Slack, Twitter and Facebook and promote the advantages of sharing information. You can also look at how you can use social media in a more professional manner.

Professional Uses for Social Media

According to the survey, 68% of those surveyed use social tools to communicate with fellow co-workers. An increasing number of employees use social media for the communicating with clients 47%, for growing their professional networks 36%, when sharing or reviewing documents 50% and when researching customers 24%. What is clear, is that employees use social media tools for reasons other than posting random web content. They use these tools to broaden the company’s scope and galvanize sales. With this in mind, if you are a senior manager, you may want to nudge your fellow staff in the area of social media when dealing with issues relating to communication, or to secure that sale.

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