3rd March 2011 / Posted in: Communication strategy, Planning and preparation, Policies & Procedures, Social networking, Social networking policy, Tweeting, Twitter
On 1st March 2011 – Tuesday this week – the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) codes were expanded to extend beyond paid advertising (which includes on-line pop ups and banner advertising on the internet) to cover the un-paid marketing messages on websites and communications on social media sites.
Although this extension of the ASA’s powers was announced last November many companies haven’t recognised the implications of these changes particularly in relation to social media.
On the face of it companies that apply the ‘legal, decent and honest’ approach to their website and company Facebook page, and ensure brand consistency in everything they do and say, may think they have nothing to worry about. However the social media rules are more complicated as user generated content is only covered by the new legislation if is used proactively within an organisation’s marketing communications. The guidelines are clear that customer comments on a company’s Facebook page aren’t covered by the new code however if the company then uses the customer’s comments then they are covered. The grey area will be social media sites, for example LinkedIn, where a member of staff whose profile shows them to be an employee of a company, makes claims about themselves or the company. Is the posting their opinion or the company’s marketing message?
Don’t wait until you get complaints from the ASA. If you haven’t reviewed your social media guidelines in light of these changes, or you don’t have guidelines, contact Sarah Matthews, SFM Consulting on 020 3286 7224 or e: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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26th October 2010 / Posted in: Blogging, Communication strategy, Human Resources, Policies & Procedures, Social networking, Social networking policy, Tweeting
I was stimulated to write this by the excellent Connecting HR Unconference last Thursday (http://connectinghr.org) and some conversations I’d read on LinkedIn about networking. It seems the majority of HR practitioners are not social. I don’t mean that they don’t go out socially and have a good time – but social in terms of collaboration and building business relationships outside their day to day roles. As they aren’t social they don’t network – either face to face or via social media.
In broadest terms HR professionals fall into two camps – those that network face to face, have adopted social media and use it to build relationships, collaborate, share information and have fun. And the rest – those who are not yet considering social media, and whom last Thursday were referred to as Muggles or the “unconverted”. No surprises that they weren’t there to defend themselves. I say “yet” because social media is not a fad, it’s here to stay. Our next generation of employees already prefer to communicate via Facebook, they aren’t going to revert to post and e-mail, so to communicate effectively businesses need to change.
Most organisations are resistant to change and fear of change – something which is often based on fear of the unknown. If businesses ignore the changes going on around them (not just in communications) they will get left behind. Adapting to the change means making sure the needs of the business come first.
Social media isn’t something to be scared of – it’s simply a communication channel. It’s not something to adopt because everyone around you is engaging through social media, although it’s worth remembering that if it’s only your competitors writing about your area of business area you are in trouble.
What may be scary to HR is the fact that your staff can set up accounts on various social media platforms and blog or chat away, at any time of the day or night, saying anything they like. Rather than focusing on the negatives – think what this could bring to the business. Your staff are using social media to collaborate, communicate and build relationships. Communication isn’t about control – it’s about influence. Think how powerful a tool social media can be if aligned with the business strategy and harnessed to maximise this influence. Don’t assume the key influencers are at the top – the ability to influence isn’t driven by seniority it’s driven by the ability to connect with, and influence, the maximum number of people of in a community. Still scared, well remember, the contract of employment already addresses your worst worries about what staff may say.
Another aspect of social media which scares HR is where responsibility lies. HR are often more associated with control rather than creativity, and at the mention of social media they start thinking of a complicated policy telling staff what they can’t do. Conversely marketing personnel tend to like social media because it’s more creative and its about letting go rather than control. To be effective, the responsibility for developing the social medial strategy needs to be a combined effort between marketing, HR and communications. Why?
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5th July 2010 / Posted in: General, Human Resources, Management, Operational management, Planning and preparation, Policies & Procedures, Productivity, Staff engagement, Time management
For many individuals the luxury of not having to travel an hour or so to and from work each day translates into an extra hour or two at their desk at home and the ability to get through a huge workload without interruptions. But is that always the case? How do their managers and colleagues view it? How do they make home workers feel part of their team?
Allowing someone to work from home involves much more than trusting them to do as good a job at home as they do in the office. If you already have staff working from home, or you are considering it, the following tips should help home working run smoothly for both parties.
For someone to work at home effectively they probably need the following skills:
Employers have a duty of care for the health, safety and welfare of their employees when they work from home. They should: visit the home working environment to check its suitability as a work place; undertake a work station assessment for PC users; ensure the workplace is hazard-free; check the company’s insurance policies to ensure the necessary cover is in place for staff working from home; ask the employee to check and confirm that their mortgage/rental arrangement and home insurance policy do not prevent home working.
The employer should think carefully about whether any furniture, tools and/or equipment (eg a computer) are needed. . If so should they be provided by the employer or the homeworker? If they are provided by the employer then do they want to set down rules and restrictions about usage. For example, if staff aren’t allowed to use social networking sites or download material for personal use on an office computer then the same applies when that office computer is in an employee’s home. Also don’t forget to cover any computer provided by the employer under office maintenance contract.
Installing a dedicated phone line avoids conflict over bills and other members of the family wishing to use the phone.
If the employee’s job involves dealing with confidential or sensitive information, the employer should take appropriate steps: to ensure that all working arrangements are secure; any documentation to be held in the home will not be subject to breaches of confidentiality; no family member can access electronic or hard copies; and if the work involves personal information about individuals, the employee should understand and implement the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 relevant to data security.
Any arrangement with an employee regarding their place, hours etc of work should be in writing and signed by both parties. Employers may wish to stipulate fixed hours or core hours during which the employee must be available to answer the phone/respond to e-mails, and if they are unavailable, the process for notifying their line manager. If allowing someone to work from home is a new arrangement then agreeing a periodic review provides both parties with a mechanism to discuss whether the arrangement is working. Remember that the Working Time Regulations 1998 apply to home workers too.
The employer needs to think about how work will be delivered and collected from the employee’s home, how performance is measured and reviewed, how the line manager will manage an off site employee, whether there are security issues relating to lone working, how the home worker will integrate with other members of their team and other colleagues.
An employee working from home, either part or full time, will miss out on some or all of the camaraderie, banter and gossip which, for many staff, are an important aspect of team working. It’s more difficult to engage with staff if they work at home, especially if it’s full time. Using e-mail for the majority of communications is bad for both parties and won’t build a good, working relationship. Visual contact is better than phone contact and is achievable without needing to spend a great deal of money through services like Skype and i-Chat when used with a webcam.
Managing a member of staff that works from home full or part time may be more difficult for some line managers
It’s worth developing a formal request process to evaluate whether staff can work from home and review just as you would review a request for flexible working. That way you can be sure you treat everyone equally. Remember there are always some jobs that just cannot be done from home. Creating a check and action list based on the above
It may seem like a complicated and daunting process to manage properly, but the effort needed to develop a workable system will be worth it if you have happy, engaged, productive employees – working at home and managing them from the office.
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