Is social media working for your business?

With 6% of workers confessing to spending at least an hour a day using sites such as Twitter and facebook, does virtual networking present a problem?

I’m the first to admit that I use social media while at work – after all, I’m sat here blogging. And it’s certainly been useful for me; I have instant access to literally hundreds of contacts to help with recruitment, advice and information sharing. It’s not that people use the internet per se. It’s how and when they use it.

Besides, blurred boundaries between work and play aren’t great when you’re trying to present a professional image. But that problem hasn’t just appeared with the spread of the virtual variety of social networking. If they weren’t on t’net, they’d be bugging the person at the desk next to them, or spending too long at the coffee machine.

Based on their recent survey, Myjobgroup.co.uk are reporting that 55 per cent of the UK’s working population are apparently accessing social media whilst at work, however 1 in 10 respondents claimed that social media made them more productive. According to their analysis, Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks could potentially be costing the UK up to £14billion in lost work time.

Banning facebook might be one solution but it won’t stop time wasters time wasting. As a manager, when standards slip, you should be asking questions. Trust and respect go along way but the starting point for that is setting clear expectations. A good email and internet usage policy is key, as are performance monitoring plans when you need to intervene. SMEs in particular would be wise to head the advice of Lee Fayer. The Managing Director of Mjobgroup.co.uk suggests that monitoring is needed to boost productivity by ensuring that employees are not abusing their freedom of access.

For help and advice on managing employee internet access, get in touch with jen@thehrexperts.co.uk.

Double whammy: dual discrimination

This year's Equality Act sees a big change in employment law. Previously, employers have been able to wriggle out of so-called 'dual discrimination' claims, but not anymore.

A certain newsreader who tried to claim discrimination and failed will be listening carefully to see how this piece of legislation unfolds when it is tested in court. Her claim failed because she said she was being discrimated against on the grounds of age and sex. But, lo, there are other female newsreaders aren't there? And, there are other older newsreaders too! Nevermind that the female newsreaders are all under 40 and the older ones are all male.

Well, this new law changes all that. You can now claim on the grounds of two protected characteristics, so she could have argued that she was treated unfairly because she was an older woman. Same goes for Pakistani Muslims, black men, young women, or any other combination of two characteristics. The claimant would have to show that they wouldn't have been discriminated against but for the fact that they had two protected characteristics and the burden of proof would be on the employer to prove that they weren't in the wrong.