Social Media: Don’t be a fool, use the tool
Social media allows individuals to have closer relationships than ever before and have new freedoms in regards to communication. For example, a father in Chicago, Illinois could instant message his wife and children in Hong Kong, China and see pictures of what they are doing. The same goes for businesses and corporations. The CEO of any company could Tweet a short message about the company’s stock prices and then share a photo of the main headquarters building on Facebook and within an instant have one hundred people like the photo or favorite the tweet. Going on Facebook, Twitter, or other media sites and posting negative comments about management and the company is exactly the opposite of what social media should be used for by our employees. Social media can carry our businesses very far with little effort on our part but only if we use it to its full potential.We as the managers of this company have decided that we need to change some policies to create a more positive work environment and to increase productivity. Most of the ideas that were brought up had to do with limiting access to social media and/or taking away the privileges entirely. The problem however isn’t the overuse of social media sites, but it is instead the misuse of them.
We also believe that the problem also has somewhat come from our employee dissatisfaction with our current policies in place. We don’t suggest giving our employees unlimited social media access and unlimited break times, however, but instead making break-times and out of office activities more enjoyable by using social media sites as a tool for customer satisfaction. I will start by explaining the situation that caused this, then offering a solution, then explaining the entire plan.
Amy Smith in the programming department said in a Facebook post, “Our boss is so dumb that he can’t even parameterize recursive functions while writing an intermediate representation.” She then posted a picture of her boss with herself in the foreground pretending to shoot herself with her fingers. The problem in these two instances is caused by an employee showing dissatisfaction through an inappropriate medium.
What Amy said seemed like a simple joke, but it somehow it decreased productivity in the programming department. We weren’t really sure what caused it and Amy wondered why too. Her boss said only great things about her and said that they had never been on negative terms with each other. When we surveyed other workers in that same office some said that they agreed with Amy and they didn’t like the boss because they thought he wasn’t qualified enough to be in a position higher than them. They had very negative things to say about him, but couldn’t name a time when the boss had ever been rude or mean to them directly. The situation seemed to be that some of the other workers didn’t know that Amy was being humorous and just assumed that she was trying to be mean.
Subheading #1
First off, we want to show you what the posts were that caused this whole ordeal. John Doe on floor 3 said this in a tweet. “How can the coffee makers be so bad and out of date when our company is the one that advertises them?” He then later tweeted that “if we can’t have a good coffee maker for our company, what makes anyone think that people should buy them?” He specifically was dissatisfied with the coffee makers and why they can’t make a decent cup of coffee.
Amy Smith in the programming department said in a Facebook post, “Our boss is so dumb that he can’t even parameterize recursive functions while writing an intermediate representation.” She then posted a picture of her boss with herself in the foreground pretending to shoot herself with her fingers. The problem in these two instances is caused by an employee showing dissatisfaction through an inappropriate medium.What Amy said seemed like a simple joke, but it somehow it decreased productivity in the programming department. We weren’t really sure what caused it and Amy wondered why too. Her boss said only great things about her and said that they had never been on negative terms with each other. When we surveyed other workers in that same office some said that they agreed with Amy and they didn’t like the boss because they thought he wasn’t qualified enough to be in a position higher than them. They had very negative things to say about him, but couldn’t name a time when the boss had ever been rude or mean to them directly. The situation seemed to be that some of the other workers didn’t know that Amy was being humorous and just assumed that she was trying to be mean.
Minor Heading A
The main problem with these situations, we found, was the lack of a connection between the employees and their superiors. If John had notified his superior about the problem and had gotten it fixed, he could have had that personal connection with his superior and not had any negative feelings about the company. If Amy’s coworkers had known it was a joke or if they knew the boss well, then they could have instantly realized that Amy didn’t mean any harm.Subheading #2
Our solution as management is to use social media as a tool to increase employee satisfaction, plan events that strengthen friendships, and keep employees up to date with the company. The events will be the main aspect of our plan, which is comprised of two main themes which target the company’s employees as a whole group instead of focusing on individual issues.
They are in office experience and out of office experience. In office experience refers to the experience that workers have while working in the office during working hours. Out of office experience refers to the activities and events that we have after work hours and on weekends. Employees are also encouraged to bring family and friends to the out of office events to allow for more social interactions and create a more comfortable atmosphere. Social media will allow us to create an online experience as well to enhance both of these previous mentioned experiences.
The online experience that we have designed covers the computer experience during work times and out of work times. Every event and activity that we plan is tied together and made better by incorporating it into the online experience. During work time we can also improve employee satisfaction online by making sure the servers work fantastic and they have enough bandwidth to easily and effectively complete tasks with as little stress as possible. In the out of work online experience we can provide resources that the employees can use to better their recreational life and keep in touch with the office when they want to just check in and be a part of the action. First, we will present multiple solutions that will better the in office experience.
The break rooms will be utilized better as a socializing method and will be one way to increase relations between each of the employees and their bosses. If the employees feel more comfortable and relaxed around their coworkers and their bosses, then they can establish a personal connection and have a better experience at work. One way that we can do this is by overlapping more employees break times with their bosses. This allows the worker to become more comfortable with their superior by having them interact in a laid back, non-professional atmosphere. Another great way to utilize the break rooms is by having activities and events in them. With the FIFA world cup just around the corner, we can hype people up about the games and allow them to choose when their break time is according to what match they want to watch. This increases the personal connections by allowing the employees to get their minds off work and interact with the other coworkers in a non-professional setting. Also by allowing them to choose their break time during the FIFA events, they can be around people that have the same interests as them.
The out of office experience will consist of events, discounts, and opportunities for employees. We will have numerous promotions where we will team up with some local restaurants, stores, and services to provide discounts. In addition we will use social media to advertise these events and promotions. One of the best things that we can do to improve employee satisfaction and increase the quality of relationships between employees is by providing them an opportunity to socialize. Just like the lesson where you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it, we must not try to force our employees to do things that they will not enjoy. The whole reason why the employees wanted to work for us in the first place was because they felt like they could make a living without driving themselves crazy, and by planning events after work hours, we are providing them with a chance to relieve stress and have a good time.
Some great activities that work with companies are movies in the park, karaoke nights, talent shows, game nights, sports days, and training seminars. Most of the activities that we plan will be fun and entertaining and some will be formal and educational. We can bring in some university professors, industry professionals, and company bosses to give seminars to further educate our employees. There is a local event planning company that has offered to partner up with us in exchange for services. They are willing to plan our events at a minimal amount if we will run their website and social media sites. We can use this specific resource, in addition to numerous others, to help improve customer satisfaction and improve our company in the long run.
All of these specific ideas will be implemented in the course of the next few weeks but in the meantime we will encourage employees to use social media sites responsibly. Even though we will be using social media to help the company, we want them to respect the work time that they have been given and to work during those hours. Consequences will be issued to those who don’t respect the current workplace policy of no social media or recreational internet use during work hours. Before work hours, during breaks, and after work hours we strongly encourage employees to use social media and everything we have to offer within it. This way we can make break-times and out of office activities more enjoyable by using social media sites as a tool for customer satisfaction, and increased company profitability.
The online experience that we have designed covers the computer experience during work times and out of work times. Every event and activity that we plan is tied together and made better by incorporating it into the online experience. During work time we can also improve employee satisfaction online by making sure the servers work fantastic and they have enough bandwidth to easily and effectively complete tasks with as little stress as possible. In the out of work online experience we can provide resources that the employees can use to better their recreational life and keep in touch with the office when they want to just check in and be a part of the action. First, we will present multiple solutions that will better the in office experience.
The break rooms will be utilized better as a socializing method and will be one way to increase relations between each of the employees and their bosses. If the employees feel more comfortable and relaxed around their coworkers and their bosses, then they can establish a personal connection and have a better experience at work. One way that we can do this is by overlapping more employees break times with their bosses. This allows the worker to become more comfortable with their superior by having them interact in a laid back, non-professional atmosphere. Another great way to utilize the break rooms is by having activities and events in them. With the FIFA world cup just around the corner, we can hype people up about the games and allow them to choose when their break time is according to what match they want to watch. This increases the personal connections by allowing the employees to get their minds off work and interact with the other coworkers in a non-professional setting. Also by allowing them to choose their break time during the FIFA events, they can be around people that have the same interests as them.
Subheading #3
We can do this for multiple special occasions throughout the year like a boss’s birthday parties, business celebrations, and worldwide holidays. We are essentially forcing the employees to establish connections with their coworkers and in turn boosting the moral of each department. Picking break times could be a great way for employees to get together with people that they really like and increasing the bond between each of them. Social media will be the best way to connect the workers together because most of the workers are avid Facebook and Twitter users already. We can build upon those foundations and make it more suited to our company.The out of office experience will consist of events, discounts, and opportunities for employees. We will have numerous promotions where we will team up with some local restaurants, stores, and services to provide discounts. In addition we will use social media to advertise these events and promotions. One of the best things that we can do to improve employee satisfaction and increase the quality of relationships between employees is by providing them an opportunity to socialize. Just like the lesson where you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it, we must not try to force our employees to do things that they will not enjoy. The whole reason why the employees wanted to work for us in the first place was because they felt like they could make a living without driving themselves crazy, and by planning events after work hours, we are providing them with a chance to relieve stress and have a good time.
Some great activities that work with companies are movies in the park, karaoke nights, talent shows, game nights, sports days, and training seminars. Most of the activities that we plan will be fun and entertaining and some will be formal and educational. We can bring in some university professors, industry professionals, and company bosses to give seminars to further educate our employees. There is a local event planning company that has offered to partner up with us in exchange for services. They are willing to plan our events at a minimal amount if we will run their website and social media sites. We can use this specific resource, in addition to numerous others, to help improve customer satisfaction and improve our company in the long run.
All of these specific ideas will be implemented in the course of the next few weeks but in the meantime we will encourage employees to use social media sites responsibly. Even though we will be using social media to help the company, we want them to respect the work time that they have been given and to work during those hours. Consequences will be issued to those who don’t respect the current workplace policy of no social media or recreational internet use during work hours. Before work hours, during breaks, and after work hours we strongly encourage employees to use social media and everything we have to offer within it. This way we can make break-times and out of office activities more enjoyable by using social media sites as a tool for customer satisfaction, and increased company profitability.
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