Social Media Policy at Workplace, A double edged sword - to be or not to be
Monkey IT solutions is a web designing and software development company. The technology based company is into the business of app based applications, website development, digital marketing. The only five years old company has earned very good reputation in terms of timey delivery of products and after sales service resulting into capturing the big chunk of mid size segment of clients . The USP of the company has always been to keep fewer profit margins and increase sales volume. In some digit marketing campaigns the company has earned good name. During covid company could visualize the growing need of tech based applications and started developing this vertical especially for Tech HR applications and their solutions.
Company increased hiring in a time when others were laying off their staff. Company HR department policies are very progressive, sensitive and responsive to employee needs. Its headcount reached to around 300 after new hiring. Having its HO in Gurugram, Company has also plans to open new offices in Pune and Bengaluru.
Working in a vibrant work culture with high degree of trust, company never thought of putting any restrictions on employees’ movement, flexible working hours were in place since inception of company, work from home and remote working was introduced in company much before covid disrupted the business and work life. There were no restrictions on employees for using social networking sites even during working hours. Employees were frequently active and live on networking sites also while working on their projects.
Meher Sen the newly joined product manager was though excited to work in such a open work environment, but somehow noticed that employees in his section were consuming much office time in chatting on networking sites and keeping them engaged in digital world which hardly had any connection with company work or benefitting company in any way. Sen concluded of his own that few projects which were delayed was due to this reason and employees were not able to concentrate them fully on the projects and meet the deadline.
Sen also noticed that few employees were freely exchanging their political views on social media sites while working resulting into mutual conflicts in teams affecting the company work. Employees with differing political ideology got polarized in teams against those who aired different views without assessing its impact on their teamwork. On some occasions during lunch or tea breaks people were noticed getting in heated exchanges of discussions on political issues.
One day when Sen was passing through the row of one of his team to take a check on the status of the modules assigned to him. The modules were to be sent to the client after noon of that day and wanted to ensure if the things were on right track. He noticed that team lead was surfing through the networking sites and exchanging messages. Sen looked at team lead computer screen from behind and found him accessing Face book and relaxing with ease, contrary to his expectations of finding team lead working on the module. One hour back when Sen checked with him on the status of the module work, team lead replied to him that he is working on the same will send to client well before time. He needs not to worry.
Sen did not interrupt team lead in between and quietly went back getting annoyed. Sen has always been against the use of social media networking sites by employees at workplace. He was of the considered opinion that use these sites by employees is a double edged weapon which can be used against the company management by ant disgruntled employee and has potential to malign the brand image of the company. It was because in his earlier company some employee recorded an official conversation held between him and his manager and posted at social media that brought bad name to the company. After that, company decided to block all the social media/ networking sites and prohibited employees for its use during duty hours. Company also brought in new social media use policy for employees where employees were restricted to post any message in official capacity at any networking sites about company affairs or business or any happens. Communication department was created and after their approval only things were allowed to go on air.
Sen wanted same policy here. He initiated this idea earlier also in meetings but HR was not in favour any such policy. HR Head Malti was of the view that employees should be trusted to complete their work productivity in time and networking on social media is something that helps them to relieve , rejuvenate and de-in an otherwise hectic and pressured work schedule. Using networking sites in free moments can serve as a stress buster.
Sen went to Malti seat and requested her to come to meeting room to discuss some important issue. Malti was taken aback. She was engaged in some other important assignment and was not prepared for non scheduled meeting just before lunch timings.
“Can we meet after lunch”? Said Malti.
“That would be too late”. Replied Sen.
Malti got up and went to meeting room with Sen. Sen started, “what I was suspecting, has now proved. I need your immediate attention and action on the issue. I have just come from the seat of Team lead who supposed to complete the modules, show me and send to clients today by 2.30 PM. Now It Is 1PM and he is busy on face book commenting on friends’ posts. I wonder when he gets time to work, when he is mentally engaged in these social media chats. I am scared whether he will be able to complete them within the scheduled time?
“Did you enquire with him about the progress on modules? Malti said
“Yes, in the morning. He assured me of completing the work in time but nothing heard from him now”. Sen was little agitated. He said, “Pl. Malti take a quick decision and block all networking sites and stop employees using during working hours. It is a waste of productive time and cost heavily on company. Don’t be so liberal and progressive. We all are here to do business and give employees a feel that they are in a mall spending leisure time.”
“Well Mr. Sen, I appreciate your point of view. You raised this point earlier also. But I am scared that if we decide to block the use of social media sites during office hours it may back fire and there may be serious discontentment among employees.” Malti shared her apprehension.
“ Malti you are conditioned, it appears. You have to break the status quo. The things which were not harmful in past cannot be a guarantee that will not be in future too. It is time for management to take a call on it and review its policy on social media use during office hours.”
“Ok. Mr. Sen, thank you for your inputs. Give me time to have a relook.” With meeting ended and Malti went to take her lunch in cafeteria.
She noticed the team lead also there having lunch. She went to her table and asked her to see her after lunch around 2.30.PM. Malti decided to speak to him on the issue.
Team Lead reached to her cabin around 2.30.
Malti offered her seat and straightway came on point. She asked him about the modules progress which he was to send top client today by 2.30.
“Yes mam, Completed and sent to client too. I completed all that even before lunch and kept ready to send after lunch. I have come to you after sending the mail to the client.” Team Lead responded.
“Did you inform the completion to your manager?
“I told him in the morning that he needs not to increase anxiety. He will complete before time and send well within timeline. Something Happened?”
“Yes, there is an issue surfacing of increased use of social media sites by employees during working hours thus causing delays to projects and loss of productivity by losing valuable company time. Also there have been instances of members conflicts because of political ideology differences surfaced on social media posts by employees. Company can’t tolerate all this. Why should an employee’s personal ideology become a cause of Team conflict in the Organisation? If one facility given to employees is creating bad feeling among employees and loss of work productivity, then?”
“ I Think mam you are reading too much in it. We are not at all misusing it. Rather we all use this tool to enhance our knowledge and talk to working in other companies for some solutions also when we are not able to solve it. Our professional network helps achieving and completing tasks in time.”
“Take care that company does not get a feel that you guys are abusing this facility.” Concluded Malti
Now the ball was in Malti court. She has to take a call.
Questions for discussion and solutions:
1) Critically analyze the policy of allowing the employees to use social media sites during working hours?
Social media can be a powerful communication tool for employees, helping them to collaborate, share ideas and solve problems. Research studies have shown that more than 80% of employees think that social media can improve work relationships and 60% of employees believe that social media supports their decision-making processes. These studies affirm that a majority of workers connect with colleagues on social media, even during work hours. This is also seen in the case study during conversation between HR Malti and Team Lead wherein the team lead confidently responds to Malti’s question that she is reading too much on a probable issue that may surface due to increased use of social media sites by employees during working hours thereby causing delays to projects and loss of productivity by losing valuable company time. Team Lead clarified to Malti that they are not at all misusing social media, rather using it as a tool to enhance their knowledge by speaking to working professionals in other companies for solutions that they themselves are not able to solve, basically are collaborating together to achieve solutions which is the future of work going forward, post pandemic. Team Lead drove home the point to Malti that such type of professional networking helps them in achieving and completing the tasks in time which in turn is ultimately benefitting the company only.
Moreover, it seems that the concerns of Meher Sen, the newly joined product manager at Monkey IT solutions are misguided. He is carrying the baggage of his social media experience from his earlier company wherein some employee had recorded an official conversation held between him and his manager and posted it on social media that ultimately brought bad name to the company. After that, the company decided to block all the social media / networking sites and prohibited employees for its use during duty hours. Company also brought in new social media usage policy for it’s employees wherein they were restricted to post any message in official capacity at any networking sites about company affairs or business or any happens. Communication department was created and after their approval only things were allowed to go on air. Sen wanted the same policy here also in the new organization. This is a typical development in any organization wherein whenever a new manager joins, he or she wants to bring in changes that they were doing or following in their previous companies. They want the same thing to be repeated in the new organization as well rather than spending time & understanding work culture of the new organization, how things work there, how it is different from previous organizations, how it is beneficial to them, what new things they can learn and what they should unlearn from the past.
Social media doesn’t reduce productivity nearly as much as it kills employee retention. Effects of social media depend on who employees interact with. Employees who interact with their colleagues share meaningful work experiences. Employees who engage in online social interactions with coworkers through social media blogs tend to be more motivated and come up with innovative ideas which is exactly what is required for Monkey IT solutions, a technology driven company.
Hence I agree with it’s HR policies that are progressive, sensitive and responsive to employee needs and thereby there are no restrictions on employees for using social networking sites even during working hours. This has resulted in the employees being frequently active and live on networking sites also while working on their projects. The work culture was vibrant and with a high degree of trust. The employees were motivated, less distracted & productive. I don’t think there was any complaint from the client side regarding end user delay in their requirements & or it not being met as per the specifications due to employee behavior or misconduct. Rather the company was growing, it’s headcount had scaled to 300 in HO, had plans to open new offices in other IT hubs like Pune and Bengaluru and some of it’s digital marketing campaigns had earned good name for the organization.
I feel that the problem is not with the Social Media policies or the employees of Monkey IT solutions but rather with Meher Sen. The problem is more person – oriented rather than a process or policy related. Meher is telling to HR Malti that she appears conditioned & informing that the things which were not harmful in past cannot be a guarantee that will not be in future too. Rather, Meher Sen should have a hard look at himself in the mirror before commenting such statements to others. Just because he had some bad experience in his previous companies w.r.t. employees misusing social media sites to tarnish image of company, it does not necessarily mean that it will happen in his new organization also i.e. Monkey IT solutions. I support HR Malti that in tech driven IT companies, the work atmosphere should be free, vibrant & open because that it when employees are at their productive best and will be able to give tangible outputs to the clients that will be beneficial. You cannot have a culture of micromanagement and control which is what Meher Sen was accustomed of having it around. Malti is justified in her apprehension that if HR decides to block the use of social media sites during office hours it may back fire and there may be serious discontentment among employees.
Employees who engage in online social interactions with co-workers through social media blogs tend to be more motivated and may tend to come up with innovative ideas. The effects of social media depend on who employees interact with and for what purpose; employees who interact with their colleagues share meaningful work experiences and also to upskill themselves e.g. LinkedIn also offers a great learning platform to learn the relevant skills one needs to build the experiences.
2) How should Malti handle the situation now?
Having stated all of the above, research studies have also shown that employees using social media were more likely to leave an organization. This may be because they were more likely to engage with potential new employers than their less social peers. Employees using social media for work take an interest in other organizations they find on social media, compared to employees using social media only for leisure. These employees engage in some key activities including researching new organizations and making new work connections. This presents a dilemma for HR managers, Functional Line Managers and the organization too as employees using social media at work are more engaged and more productive, but they are also more likely to leave the company. This is seen in the case study aptly titled as “Double-edge – Be or not be”. The ball was now in Malti’s court to take a call. She temporarily resolved the situation by having a dialogue with the Team Lead and understanding the entire context. So far she had only listened to Meher Sen’s version of story. Now she heard the Team Lead’s story version too. Having been satisfied by the response given by Team Lead, she concluded by cautiously instructing the team lead to take care that the company does not get a feeling or warning signs that it’s facility is being abused. Malti trusted the story version of the team lead as long as they were delivering the customer’s requirements and timeline’s were met.
This problem can be addressed by implementing solutions that neutralize the employee retention risk caused by social media. Social media training should be done to make employees focus on positive social media behaviors, like collaboration, which can increase satisfaction and attachment, countering turnover risks.
HR can also look at turning this threat into an opportunity by creating social media groups in which employees will be more likely to collaborate and less likely to share withdrawal Intentions or have discussions on political issues resulting into mutual conflicts in teams ultimately affecting company work (as seen in the case study here). HR can use social media to have a positive influence on the employees by recognizing employees’ accomplishments and giving visibility to employees’ success stories. This approach if implemented can also serve as a recruiting tool because if, on one side, the use of social media can make the employees leave the organization or have other harmful effects, on the other side, the same use of social media from employees of other organizations could also attract them to Monkey IT solutions.
