Original Source: Dell uses social media to gather employee ideas, Ragan Communications, Andrew Analore
EmployeeStorm allows employees to submit company ideas, speak candidly
When it comes to internal communications, global technology giant Dell may have hit on the perfect storm: a social media platform, dubbed EmployeeStorm, which culls ideas from all of its business units and fosters discussion among employees.
Launched nearly a year ago, EmployeeStorm allows Dell’s worldwide community of more than 80,000 employees to post and discuss ideas on topics ranging from product upgrades and innovation to critiques of company policies, facilities improvements and benefits.
“It’s about anything or everything to do with Dell,” says Ellen Rich, Dell’s HR communications manager.
Powered by Salesforce.com’s IdeaExchange engine and integrated into Dell’s intranet, EmployeeStorm allows users to vote on ideas and highlight those they’d like to see implemented. Communications and leadership team members can join the discussion, keeping EmployeeStorm posters abreast of the status of the ideas they submit.
Launched in June 2007, EmployeeStorm is an offshoot of IdeaStorm, a brainstorming and discussion platform launched by Dell to get feedback from customers.
| Vida Killian offers tips to those interested in launching their own EmployeeStorm platform. |
“We don’t want employees submitting ideas externally. We want to keep those internal,” Vida Killian, manager of the IdeaStorm platform, told Ragan.com.
Ideas submitted by employees through EmployeeStorm are segmented into those for customers, such as new product ideas, and those for employees, such as suggestions for new cafeteria menu items. They are then routed to the right departments for consideration.
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I just came across the social media policy that Wendy Harman at the Red Cross has been hard at work creating, and it is too good of a document to not pass along. The purpose of the strategy is to encourage Red Cross staff and local chapters to participate in social media and helps them create a strategy for their particular chapter. The document outlines the goals and objectives that the Red Cross has from a national perspective and provides high level considerations for local chapters interested in creating a social media presence.
