When you’re interested in visiting a restaurant, seeing a movie or renting an apartment, the first thing you probably do is “Google” it. You scan the consumer reviews on Yelp, Metromix, Apartments.com or Zagat to decide which product or service to embrace with your coveted purchasing power. You understand that some reviews are too harsh and that some are too soft, but you gain insight from all of them – and somewhere in the middle is probably right.
Now, employees are doing a similar search when they look at your organization.
For companies dedicated to continuously improving employee relations, this is a great thing that can help power recruitment and brand favorability.
Employers that burn and turn their staff: beware!
JobVent.com is just one website in the social media sphere that is changing our understanding of workplaces, employee engagement and the importance of employee relations. It is a review-powered site that allows consumers to rate their employers, and then tallies up all input to provide employers with an overall score.
The site – which has been featured on Good Morning America and msnbc.com – offers a clear indicator that human resources has entered the digital, networked age, and that HR leaders need to become increasingly social media savvy.
And, thankfully, that doesn’t mean overworked HR managers need to spend time learning every social network site out there. Social media is constantly evolving, so understanding how your employees engage social media, social media basics and how to engage specific sites when appropriate is really where human resources professionals should focus their energy.
In fact, JobVent.com came to my attention unexpectedly, through a different mechanism: a Google Alert. We track news from our competitors and one day the “news” was actually notification that a former employee from their company was posting information about them on JobVent.
Whether or not the review was entirely accurate, it provided us with insight about our competitive advantage – and reinforced our belief in the value of being a “best place to work.”
Human resources specialists need to understand that, good or bad, employees are talking about you. What they say can influence your ability to attract best-in-class talent, investors and even customers. And, it empowers you to fight for better workplace initiatives – because the C-suite cares about its public reputation.
The social media revolution has impacted human resources by creating increased accountability, transparency and opportunity. Heed the buzz: creating a great workplace now has impact on your brand.
Maureen Dorgan-Clemens is vice-president of organizational consulting services at Perspectives Ltd. She has more than 24 years experience consulting with organizations around management development, team development, conflict management, performance coaching and leadership training, and EAPs. Find out more about Maureen on LinkedIn.
Recent articles: “House” Training—How To Handle a Disruptive Professional, Training Magazine
Tags: Apartment.com, brand, C-suite, cyberspace, employee relations, employees, Google, HR, human resources, JobVent.com, Metromix, reputation, social media, workplace, workplace initiatives, Yelp, Zagat
October 15th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I was fascinated to see this post, as I recently created a similar interactive site, http://www.tellurboss.com. My purpose is a little different in that the site is focuses on upward communication in the workplace. It allows users to anonymously vent about or praise their bosses, and participate in a dialogue about other workplace issues. I think it’s great that there are vehicles out there that allow today’s workers to express their thoughts in a safe environment–and that HR professionals are paying attention to the results. Thanks again for a great post!