Social Media in the Workplace: A Challenge for Some

It seems like only yesterday that most communication within the workplace, including conversations with vendors, customer and employees, was carried out over the phone or in person. Thanks to the dawn of the Internet, communication is faster and far more efficient with programs such as email, text messaging, web-conferencing and social network websites, such as Twitter and Facebook.The author describes social media as the “relatively inexpensive and wide accessible electronic tools that enable anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on a common effort, or build relationships” (Pg. 4). Sounds great, right? Well not every organization is taking advantage of this phenomenon, with negative employees who refuse to change.

It's 11:30 am and an employee is injured. The injury is not serious, but the Plant Manager wants to hold a safety meeting in the lunchroom at 1:30pm. He asks his assistant to contact managers to begin the chain of contact. A fast, efficient means of communication is necessary to ensure the message gets across. The problem is, some employees do not check their emails for days. This is because they are slow and unfamiliar with their computer. Is it fair to expect that some will check their emails and others need to be called?

The situation above is one that I've dealt with at my company. I learned quickly, after seeing that certain departments didn't show up for meetings, that some managers do not check their mail and must be called by phone. This creates a dilemma because although it is very time-consuming to call everyone, it is the only way that the message will be transmitted. If everyone was trained and familiar with email, the message would reach all parties. One issue recognized in the book, Social Media at Work, is that certain employees are not comfortable communicating on the worldwide web using programs such as email and social network sites. By taking more time to communicate to employees with negative attitudes towards social media, the company loses productivity as it now takes longer to pass along a message. This could result in the loss of several hours of work productivity each week.

The book mentions that the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are still unfamiliar with this way of working and living (pg. 6). It is very apparent in my workplace, where the managers with 30+ years of experience rarely check their email and prefer to make a phone call to move information. But as these veteran employees begin to retire, they are being replaced with people who are expected to know and understand the ways of social media.  Until then, some employees have much resistance and negativity towards new programs. The implementation of social media in the workplace is still a challenge where older generations are still dominant. While I still find it sometimes difficult to motivate veteran employees to embrace the exciting programs and features in social media, there is hope as the younger generations become experts in this field. The world is changing, as are our workplaces. Are you ready?

Source:  Jue, Alcalde-Marr, and Kassotakis book, Social Media at Work
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