Does your organization use social media effectively? Do you think it should?
I should think it is clear at this point that social media is not going away. It may change- Myspace came and went, Facebook is still going strong, Google+ wasn't the crazy success some people thought it was going to be- but social media as a whole is very much here to stay. And any business that isn't taking advantage of the prevalence of social media in our lives is, in my humble opinion, falling behind.
The PR and marketing advantages of using social media should be obvious. Social media is free, and if you put a little work into it, you can have quite an effective, interactive space that gets your brand out there to nearly everyone at little to no cost. You can showcase yourself and people can talk about you, give you feedback and recommend you, for free. Everyone should be doing this.
However, if you're going to go the social media route, do it right. Invest a little time in it, and keep it up. There is nothing sadder than a company twitter account that has 30 followers who are all employees, and has tweeted six times in two years. Might as well delete it and move on, because it just makes you look like you hopped on the bandwagon and then didn't know what to do next. And be aware that if you have a Facebook page, you may get a disgruntled client posting on it- don't just ignore it, don't just delete it and move on! Handle it, and if it is done effectively, you can create a customer for life. I work for an organization that had this kind of issue- the president of the company responded personally, and ultimately flew the client out to head office for a tour. She is now one of the biggest brand evangelists we have, and all this came out of a complaint on Facebook.
The advantages of using social media effectively go beyond marketing though- social media is a godsend to anyone in recruitment. It is free and easy advertising. If you've done your job properly and created a consistent branding image, you can reach all kinds of passive and active candidates through social media. Create a Facebook careers link, send out tweets with links to job descriptions, use LinkedIn, and in a very short time, you have gotten your message out to a wide pool of possible candidates that you might never have reached any other way.
In short, I think everyone should be using social media. Are you?
Friday, June 15, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Employee Handbooks- How Valve Does It
I read this article the other day, and, because my significant other is an avid gamer, I knew immediately what I was looking at. If you have a gamer in your life, you probably do, too.
For those of you HR types who may not be quite so up on the gaming world, the linked article is discussing the employee handbook of a company called Valve, who are huge in the world of videogames, PC and platform-based. They are creative and innovative, and make games people love to play. They also have one hell of an employee handbook.
For those of you who click the link, I'd love to know what the first thing you thought of that handbook was. I know for me, it was their hierarchy that did me in. Valve doesn't have one, apparently. At all. They have a completely flat hierarchy, and no one reports to anyone else. The HR geek in me loves it. I may have squeaked. It is just so simply cool to see a company doing something totally differently.
Obviously, this type of non-existent hierarchy is going to be a bit radical for most organizations to accept, but radically different is what Valve does, and it sure seems to work for them. I'd love to know more about HR at Valve, and what that looks like compared to what my HR looks like. Fascinating stuff.
I think most organizations are not prepared to be quite so radical when it comes to their hierarchy, but the part about the Valve handbook that I like the best isn't about the hierarchy at all. It's the bit where people are assumed to be responsible adults, who are at work because they love what they do. Valve is assuming that if you work there, you're there because you want to be. That assumption, that attitude, has to be a big part of why people are there. If you always think the best of people, they will rise to the challenge. I love that.
I know a lot of cynical HR types out there who will tell you that this simply isn't true, and maybe it isn't always. Certainly, I've worked in many organizations and environments where there were shirkers, people who abused the sick pay policies, people who only worked if the manager was there micromanaging every second- but I don't actually think that's how things really ought to be, I think that's a sign of unhappy workers. Put someone in an environment where they are expected to live up to a high standard, make sure they have the proper tools to perform to said standard, and turn 'em loose, and see what kind of creativity you get from that. If you've got a good fit, you're going to know it.
What do you think about Valve? Would you love it, or hate it?
For those of you HR types who may not be quite so up on the gaming world, the linked article is discussing the employee handbook of a company called Valve, who are huge in the world of videogames, PC and platform-based. They are creative and innovative, and make games people love to play. They also have one hell of an employee handbook.
For those of you who click the link, I'd love to know what the first thing you thought of that handbook was. I know for me, it was their hierarchy that did me in. Valve doesn't have one, apparently. At all. They have a completely flat hierarchy, and no one reports to anyone else. The HR geek in me loves it. I may have squeaked. It is just so simply cool to see a company doing something totally differently.
Obviously, this type of non-existent hierarchy is going to be a bit radical for most organizations to accept, but radically different is what Valve does, and it sure seems to work for them. I'd love to know more about HR at Valve, and what that looks like compared to what my HR looks like. Fascinating stuff.
I think most organizations are not prepared to be quite so radical when it comes to their hierarchy, but the part about the Valve handbook that I like the best isn't about the hierarchy at all. It's the bit where people are assumed to be responsible adults, who are at work because they love what they do. Valve is assuming that if you work there, you're there because you want to be. That assumption, that attitude, has to be a big part of why people are there. If you always think the best of people, they will rise to the challenge. I love that.
I know a lot of cynical HR types out there who will tell you that this simply isn't true, and maybe it isn't always. Certainly, I've worked in many organizations and environments where there were shirkers, people who abused the sick pay policies, people who only worked if the manager was there micromanaging every second- but I don't actually think that's how things really ought to be, I think that's a sign of unhappy workers. Put someone in an environment where they are expected to live up to a high standard, make sure they have the proper tools to perform to said standard, and turn 'em loose, and see what kind of creativity you get from that. If you've got a good fit, you're going to know it.
What do you think about Valve? Would you love it, or hate it?
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