The Role of Social Media in Recruitment Report

Introduction

Human resource management is the practice within organizations that deals with people, that is, the work force within an organization. It is responsible for such tasks involving recruitment of employees, ensuring employee welfare, promotion criteria, employee sanctioning and rewarding, communication among employees, among other functions that revolve around employees.

All these functions are geared towards providing a conducive environment for maximum employee performance. The human resource department policies, if well and effectively applied, will lead to effective and productive contribution of the employees to the overall mandate and goals of the organization.

Social Networking

This is an online site, whose primary purpose is to build social relationships and networks of people from all walks of life. Some are general sites where people can express varied opinions over varied issues like politics, finance, social life, over about anything. Some are more specific and cover narrower topics like issues to do with love and romance. Most of these sites are web-based and the users need the access of theinternet in order to access them. Users are able to share ideas, activities and interests within their networks.

Examples of social networks include: Facebook, twitter, Google+, badoo, blogster, buzznet, cafemom, classmates.com, diaspora*, Flickr, Friendster, hi5, to name just a few.

The Dilemma of Social Networks in the Work Place

The 21^st century has seen an aggressive use of the internet, with the streaming line of social networks. Face book for instance boasts over 400 million users in the world and twitter over 60 million. These networks can be quite interesting and entertaining to many users as they allow one to make friends, view their profiles, establish relationships and above all, share gossip.

This rise in the popularity of social networks has jeopardized the human resource department in most organizations, with the managers caught between punishing the employees who use office resources for these networks, and the danger of interfering with employee privacy motivation.

Huczynski and Buchanan (2010) say that another dilemma that the managers face is employee motivation. Studies have shown that when employees are left to work freely with minimum supervision, given the freedom to vent their inner emotions and feelings, their morale is boosted and productivity is raised. Such networks are seen to be points of releasing this tension among the employees and breaking monotony in the work place.

If they get sanctioned therefore, for accessing these networks, there is high probability that they will harbor resentment towards theirsupervisors and the management in general, and are likely to engage in more anti-social activities as a way of breaking boredom, and this may negatively affect the operation of the organization.

At the same time, these networks are addictive. Some people cannot just get out once they are in, most cannot concentrate on other issues, and they waste resources. How for instance can an accountant concentrate on doing the math if his mind is on more interesting gossip, or a customer care worker handle clients when his mind is elsewhere.

Following these, it is therefore necessary that organizations develop sound and practical policies regarding the use of social networks among employees, which balance these two extremes to ensure that the organization productivity improves, at the same time that employees are well motivated to do their work.

The Role of Social Media in Recruitment

More and more employers log in to social networks in an effort to secretly study the personality and lifestyle of potential employees. This information isused by the employers to analyze the potential employer, and deduce how the potential candidate can impact on the organization, positively or negatively.

Some employers deny the candidate work if they feel that his profile individual is wanting, for instance if he posts derogatory comments orobscene pictures.Some go to the extent of discriminating against religion and marital status.

Questions on whether this isethically correct or not, are neutralized by the fact that the users create profiles that are free for anyone to view, so the managers argue that they are not actually breaking any privacy law, as access is not denied or restricted anyway.

The disclaimer however, is that employers should bear in mind that most stories on these sites are not entirely true. Most people take advantage of the cover of anonymity to make create a personality that is not necessarily reflective of their true identity.Therefore, they should not entirely rely on these profiles forassessment of the employee. However, they can help give a limelight of the employee’s personality.

Advantages of Using Social Networks at the Work Place

Social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn can be used professionally, like to connect with others in your field of work and share experience or solve a problem related to work. Employees in the same industry could be friends or former classmates, and through these sites, they could share a lot including encouraging each other to further their studies.

At the same time, these sites contain news on various industries that once you “like” the page, you can receive recent news and updates on the goings-on in the industry. This way, the employee is able to follow on relevant news of what is going on in line with his work. Employers should take note of these positive effects and put measures in place that can tolerate the employee access to this information

These sites can be used to polish one’s image.For instance, if one posts positive and constructive comments, he/she is able to gain respect from among the network. If the comments are work related, they can also polish the company’s image as well. This way, the employee sells the company name to the public, and his polished image boosts his business transactions, as many from the network will be willing to listen to his advice, for instance, on product and services as a marketing strategy.This can help one advance his career.

If one can strictly monitor oneself on the amount of time spent on these sites in line with the company policy, it can only work to enhance their performance by acting as a morale booster. Positive comments from friends in these networks can lighten up damp moods, consolation as well over some loss or disappointment, birth day wishes and even simple greetings or a “like” on your comment can go a long way to put a smile on your face. This can push one through the pressure at work, so long as work does not get compromised.

It is a natural desire for one to want to know what is happening around them, in one’s town, country and even the world at large. This can inform an employee’s decisions, and give them something to think or talk about apart from work.

Social networks can provide this necessary information, instead of one having to tune on the radio or TV at the end of the day to get updated.This way, theemployee stays connected with the rest of the world, and understands his environment more and is informed of any precautionary measures he may need to take, to make him feel secure and relaxed to work

Tyson (2006) says that the fact that your employer trusts you as the employee with the freedom to access the social sites at any time at the same time trusting that you will do and accomplish your work effectively goes a long way to boost the employee’s confidence in the employer, and leaves you with the responsibility of not failing this trust and wanting to make the employer trust you more.

It creates a more cordial relationship between the two, a key ingredient in employer-employee cooperation leading to better performance.

Through these sites, companies can chat with their customers and clients. This can improve the relationships between the two, bringing it down from an overly casual attitude to a more friendly and flexible relationship.They can discuss about their products and services and positive feedback will help the companies improve. The customers also become freer with the companies, encouraging business transactions. This can therefore be a good medium for marketing and building Public Relations.

Disadvantages of Using Social Networks in the Work Place

Chatting, especially, on personal non-work related issues only serves to waste the employee’s work time. Studies show that average users of sites like face book spend up to 56 minutes of their work time on social sites, and this number can go up for users using mobile internet like mobile phones. This therefore wastes time as a resource for the company.

Employees accessing these sites during work time are often stealing the time; therefore, their attention is divided between chatting and work. This is a big risk as they are likely to make errors and mistakes that can cost them or the company a great deal. This compromises the productivity of the employee and the company’s goals are not met.

Sinrod (2007) says that another problem of using these networks in the work place in the risk that the company software is exposed to. The company software gets exposed to viruses and spyware, this can lead to loss or corruption of important data, and recovery can be an unnecessary added cost. Productivity levels go down.

The Impact of Negative Comments

Kiser (2011) says that employee posts can negatively impact on the image of the company. Such comments as badmouthing the supervisors, fellow employees, commenting negatively on the company products, will reduce consumer confidence towards the company, loss of clients and scare away potential clients.

Comments that reveal the company’s secrets to the public can make the company lose on competition with other companies as they are able to sabotage this information and use it to their advantage. If for instance an employee reveals who their major clients are, other competing companies can use incentives to lure these clients to their companies. The same with a company’s plans like expansion, new products and enumeration. If this information falls on the hands of competing companies, they are likely to use it to their advantage.

Some comments posted on these sites can pose legal risks and can destroy the reputation of a company, however jokingly the intention might have been.For instance a post that the employees have gone two months without pay can raise legal questions, industrial actions. The company may be regarded as insensitive to its employees, and many might not want to work in the company.

Dealing With Negative Comments

In dealing with the problem of negative comment and its impact in employees, most companies are coming up with policies to curb this. This is one of the best ways for a company to protect itself from the effects of social network; having a clearly defined online social media policy.

The policy should give clear specifications on who is allowed to speak for the company, so that any other employee who comments anything about the company is outlawed and does it illegally and is subject to sanctions. This will also safeguard confidential information from leaking to undesirable environment.

Depending on specific policies in various companies regarding the use of social networks, some employers fire the offending employees while some take upon them disciplinary actions, like paying damages to the company, demotion or suspension.

The policies can outline which social sites employees can access, probably those with the least potential harm to the company like LinkedIn than Facebook. This way, they give the employees access to the sites but in a controlled way, to limit potential harm.

The policies should be clearly communicated to the employees, make them understand what is and is not permitted regarding the access of the sites, and explain your reasons for the restrictions and spell out the penalties in cases of breach.

Conclusion

The issue of social networks in the work place is a complicated one that needs careful address by both the human resource managers and the employees. Neither party can solely tackle the issue; it needs the effort of the two parties.

The managers need to come up with policies that offer a balanced approach, one that will ensure that the workers enjoy their privacy and some form of out-of-work attention/recreation, at the same time, ensuring that work gets done, and done efficiently.

The employee on the other hand is tasked with the responsibility of living up to the company goals and objectives, and should ensure that his personal needs are well regulated so as not to interfere with his work.

Whichever policy chosen, the management should as much as possible avoid coercive measures. These kill employee morale, and sneaking on the manager to steal time for chatting will increase, worsening employee-employer relationship and productivity.

Reference List

Huczynski, A and Buchanan, D., 2010. Organizational Behavior. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd, FT Prentice Hall.

Kiser, P., 2011. 5 Reasons Why Ignoring Negative Social Media is a Career Ender: Social Media Today. Web.

Sinrod, E.J., 2007. Can Social Networking Co-exist With the Work Place? CNET NEWS Corporate and Legal. Web.

Tyson, S., 2006. Essentials of Human Resource Management. Oxford: Butterworth- Heinemann.