The research by recruitment provider Hyphen, which surveyed 1,000 people, found that 48 per cent of people aged 16-24 reject the idea of a workplace where social networking tools were prohibited. Six out of ten (59 per cent) of the same group believe that using social media increases their effectiveness as an employee.
Attachment to social media drops off markedly for older age groups, with only 28 per cent of 35-44 year olds, and 20 per cent of those aged 45-54, objecting to a ban. The findings show that employers are out of touch with ‘Generation Facebook’ who expect to be able to communicate using their chosen method, said the researchers.
“The impact of social media on the UK’s younger workforce is very evident and is something that should be both accounted for and sufficiently appraised by businesses,” said Zain Wadee, managing director of Hyphen. “Generation Facebook has grown up with 24/7 social media access and they see no reason why LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter should not also play a part in their working life.
“Tailoring benefits and office policies for the younger generation and making adequate provisions for the use of social media in a professional context is a worthwhile consideration for all businesses wishing to attract young talent. “
The research suggests that employer concerns over employees wasting time on social networking sites could be ill-founded, with over half (55.5 per cent) of the total UK workforce claiming to spend less than 10 minutes a day on their personal affairs. Almost a third (31 per cent) of all workers say they do not use social media for personal use at all during work time.
“From my experience with clients, they are increasingly adopting flexible policies towards social media use, which is the right approach,” said Wadee. “For some organisations, there are benefits to having their employees use social media in a sensible way. There are several potential business development opportunities that social media channels could also present and managers may in fact benefit from listening to ‘Generation Facebook’, whose insights into the new shape of business to business communication could be hugely valuable for their organisation.”
Extracted from the article ”Under-24s won’t work for firms where social media is banned” http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/
Despite the increase in companies blocking employee access to social media ( up from 9% in 2010 and 19% in 2011). The reality is that Social Media is here to stay and the banning means employees will be using their smartphones to access it. In my opinion companies should research into the benefits of its use and creating a social media policy. Why rejecting something that is the preferred choice of interaction nowadays? As Martin Blaker CEO of the Charity Learning Consortium ” It was said that you couldn´t put telephones on people´s desks because they would spend all the time talking on them“
Extracted from “Net Worth”, People Management Magazine April 2012
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