Does Social Media make employees less productive?

A question that I have been asked a lot recently is, ‘If I open up Social Media to my employees at work will they be distracted from their work and be less effective or productive?’
If your staff are not engaged in their work then there are any number of things that will make them lose focus and be disconnected including using Social Media. They may go for extra cigarette or toilet breaks, talk for an extra half an hour by the water cooler or go for longer lunch breaks, they may spend all day on the phone to their family and friends, you name it, if an employee isn’t focussed then they will find some way to get distracted.

The effective companies have engaged, challenged and motivated work forces and show their staff how to use social business tools to do their jobs better and more effectively. At work Social Media should be used as a two way means of online communication to increase operational efficiency. Recruiters are talking online to candidates, sales people are talking to prospects, customer services are talking to clients and leaders are talking to internal staff.

It still surprises me how many companies are initially worried about what their staff might say online or that they will waste the day away on Facebook and yet they still haven’t trained any of their staff on how to behave online or how to use Social Media tools to be more productive at work. Most employees don’t know what Social Media best practice looks like for their sector or department.
So, lack of time, lack of budget, reduced productivity and a risk to reputation are often initial objections that I hear companies give for not wanting to start using Social Media in the workplace. This has happened a few times but ironically the main reasons they give for wanting to initiate a Social Media project a few months later are: To be more time efficient, to save money, increase productivity and sales and to protect and enhance reputation.
Remember that Social Media are tools for communication, how your employees use them and what you achieve by them doing so is entirely up to you. However if you don’t educate and empower them to achieve a joint plan your worst fears are far more likely to be realised.

If you would like advice on how to train your staff to make better use of social media then you can contact me on 0800 612 8367, tweet @ColmHannon or email me: colm.hannon@esocialmedia.co.uk. You can also take a look at my other articles below. I look forward to hearing from you.