The Social Workplace — Where Community and Collaboration mean Workplace Productivity

How Productive Are Your Employees? [Infographic]

February 15, 2012

A newly created infographic by time tracking and productivity software company, DeskTime, unveils negative working habits… or does it?

According to DeskTime’s research, the average employee will spend 12% of the working day using unproductive applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. Only 59% of the day is spent using applications, which are deemed productive. This amounts to 65 hours a month, which have not been used productively, according to the data analyzed.

Of course, DeskTime has a vested interest in these results.

DesktTime’s data demonstrates that after a month of using their time tracking system, the productivity of an employee increases by 15%. In theory, DeskTime’s application is for time management and to allow employees to see which applications they use and the amount of time spent productively, unproductively, and neutrally.

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Do You Quit When Your Boss Doesn't Fit?

February 14, 2012

If you answered yes, don’t feel bad. In fact, an overwhelming 75% of people voluntarily leaving jobs don’t quit their jobs; they quit their bosses. (Employee Engagement Statistics, August 2011)

No matter where or how much you work, everyone has an interesting story about a “boss gone bad.” Since many people spend more time with their bosses than they do their friends and family, it’s understandable that bosses have a direct impact on overall employee satisfaction.

There are three types of bad bosses:

A boss that doesn’t know he’s bad. (Time for an intervention.)
A boss that knows he’s bad but wants to improve. (There’s hope!)
And a boss that doesn’t care either way. (You’re screwed.)

Bosses Gone Bad.. Real Bad

So, what is it that bosses do that can drive their employees mad? Here are some real life examples:

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Become an Employer of Choice by Recruiting from the Inside Out

February 10, 2012

Original source: Inside Out Recruiting, Recruiter.com

The job of the recruiting department today has become somewhat of a business generalist role. They are measured in terms of typical recruiting metrics, but they really have to be astute in every facet of the business. Marketing is one of those skill sets that a progressive recruiting department must add to their list of skill sets. You’re no longer just recruiting for the marketing department, but you are literally doing marketing for your company in order to attract and retain top talent.

Marketing you ask? Yes, you must become kings and queens of messaging as it relates to conveying your “employer brand”. This starts on the inside of your organization. It doesn’t do much good if your recruiters know that your company is an employer of choice but nobody on the inside of the organization knows that. Once you “market” your key messages inside of your organization, your employees begin speaking with that same vernacular and hopefully recruiting great candidates along the way.

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What Does Your Employer Branding Fishbowl Look Like?

February 9, 2012

Every company has two distinct brands, its employer brand and its consumer brand. With the rise of social networking, your company, how you run it and your culture has become a fishbowl — everything you do is on display for all to see. And like it or not, your employees have an abundance of channels for broadcasting their opinions — both negative and positive.

Company branding and employer branding aren’t the same, but they intersect to fuel each other. Many of the same characteristics that motivate consumers also motivate job seekers. Successful companies foster a culture where employees not only like where they work but also believe in the products and solutions they support. Understanding what distinguishes your employer brand and how it may affect attracting and retaining employees is an essential component to being an employer of choice. It also requires an awareness of changing workplace considerations from the employees’ perspectives to formulate a value proposition to employees that clearly answers the age-old question, “What’s in it for me?”

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Why You Should Attend The 2012 Social Media in HR Seminar

February 8, 2012

The 2012 Social Media in HR Seminar
Tapping into the Power of Social Networks

April 17-18, 2012
NYSSA Conference Center
New York, NY

Some argue that human resources professionals are late-adopters when it comes to anything technology related, including social media. But the popularity and possibilities that social recruiting have brought to the profession are causing HR pros to take notice.

While part of HR’s role is to mitigate legal risks, another very large component is to help support and cultivate the corporate culture. As social media becomes more defined in the business world, human resources professionals will have a significant opportunity to leverage this powerful medium in many aspects of the business. [The Future of Human Resources, Mashable]

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Why the Super Bowl's Social Media Command Center Scores a Winning Touchdown

February 6, 2012

An exclusive, in-depth look into the Super Bowl’s first ever social media command center, the folks who ran it, and how the convergence of technology and people created the ultimate online Super Bowl experience.

Me with Taulbee Jackson, CEO of Raidious

You would think that, the day before the biggest sporting event of the year, the people in charge of the Super Bowl’s Social Media Command Center would be frantic, running around and putting out last minute fires. So imagine my surprise when I walked in and found it to be quite the opposite. Entering the offices of Raidious — the Indianapolis-based digital communications company behind the social media command center — the air was full of activity, but the mood was quiet and calm… almost, I dare say, serene.

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Online Privacy and Why Pinterest Should "Binterested"

January 31, 2012

For once in my life I’m skeptical. And for you die-hard Pinterest fans, I hope you’ll bear with me as I explain my current disinterest in Pinterest.

I can’t get my sister-in-law to interact with me on Facebook. But she freaking LOVES Pinterest. And has been trying to get me to use it for a couple of months. And given the recent chatter on Social Media Today, I finally broke down this past Saturday and joined using my Facebook account to establish my Pinterest profile.

Over the course of the weekend, I noticed that I was receiving e-mails that “so and so” was now following me on Pinterest. At first I thought, WOW, I’m super popular. But then reality set in and I decided to see what was up. A quick call to my sister-in-law let me know that she received an e-mail that I was now following her on Pinterest and so she followed me back. My reaction? Wow, I never asked to follow you. In fact, I didn’t ask to follow anybody.

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Who's the Chicken, Who's the Egg? The People or the Company?

January 30, 2012

I consider myself very philosophical. But I do not like the proverbial chicken and egg question. And I get asked this a lot: What do you think comes first? A great company to work for or great people who work there? To me it’s just an exercise in futility because, at the end of the day, one doesn’t exist without the other. That is, without good people, it’s extremely difficult for an organization to be great. And vice versa. In 2009, employee turnover cost U.S. businesses an estimated $300 billion. The staggering cost of employee turnover can be viewed as simply the cost of doing business, however, additional damage occurs when turnover is compounded by poor hiring and management practices. (The Real Cost of a Bad Hire, TEK Systems)

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A Five Step Roadmap to Internal Social Media

January 26, 2012

Without a doubt, the adoption of using social technologies inside the organization is rampant. So many companies are hearing the loud beat of the “employee engagement” drum, but the task of effectively assessing your needs, implementing technologies correctly, and measuring for success and sustainability is a daunting project. So, it’s okay to slow down, take a deep breath and work from a well-crafted roadmap. Few things make employees more cynical than a social media platform that no one uses. And if your company quickly deployed a ["insert social tool here"] only to find that it fell flat because no one saw the value in using it then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Therefore, it’s refreshing to see firms such as Gagen MacDonald and APCO Worldwide working together to help shape internal social media programs. Recently, they analyzed research among U.S. adults working for companies with more than 500 employees that revealed 21 discrete attributes which in turn combine to form three major factors (see image below) that employees look for when deciding whether their company has effective social media internally.

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