Social Media and Its Impact on the Workplace

The creation of social media allows individuals to be in touch with their family, friends, coworkers, and networking. It is also beneficial to employers who use their social media platform to reach their targeted audience, customers, advertise and market their goods and services. Social media can be advantageous to a company when well applied, but it can negatively impact its image when misused. When employees misuse social media either during or working, it negatively impacts the workplace.

Employees shape the organization. Therefore regarding how each employee handles the social media account may affect the company’s reputation. Social media ensures that the company’s procedures and policies are adhered to (Song et al. 2019). It also sees that the employees know the guidelines of the company, their expectations, and the company’s intention. The research will look at the issues that develop problems concerning social media.

Bullying and Harassment

Social media has helped people “get things off their chests.” These ranting moments can be about their employer, personal life or home, and even workmates. Since individuals may post information about their problematic colleagues, it is necessary to check what is posted on social media platforms and what is considered harassment or Bullying. Harassment and Bullying can take many forms. These include nonverbal or verbal harassment, Bullying, physical harassment, Bullying, and even cyberbullying in new technologies.

Reggie Hall and Sue Lewis noted in their study on social media policy and managing workplace bullying, “The over-reliance and often impersonal use of electronic modalities and social media for communication has created new avenues for workplace bullying.” (pitafietal.2018,p.#) Employers should take the initiative to defend their workers from Bullying and harassment from the workplace due to social media. The employer may need to establish guidelines outline such as not tolerating cyberbullying in and outside the workplace. Once established, it should be communicated and understood that disciplinary actions would follow such actions.

Damage to Employer’s Public Reputation

As stated earlier, employees, by extension, are a representation of the company they work for. Posting confidential information or even posting offensive content on social media can impact how that particular individual is viewed and the company that individual represents. It can be especially true if the content or photos posted on social media directly link that employee to a specific company. When employees share their work information online in any social media format, they are essentially “wearing a uniform in public” (How social media can damage company reputation, 2019).

The company should establish clear guidelines with suggestions on the best way to talk about the company that would not put the company at risk or damages its reputation. If employees post something damaging, it puts the company in “the spotlight,” so to speak. In that case, the company should respond appropriately and find the reason behind any negativity and its validity. Communication is the key to establish what is and what isn’t suitable.

Using social media during work hours.

The company’s productivity can have a negative impact when workers use social media during work hours. A study done by Robert Crawford showed that one of the top 10 unproductive activities employees engaged in while working is checking their social media. It can cause a severe impact on the company’s output if the employee is spending more time on social networking than on completing work duties (Forsgren & Byström, 2018). The problem can be solved by Monitoring social media use on the company’s computers and making sure employees are aware of their monitoring. Finding ways to motivate better employees would also benefit the employer because the employee is now more engaged with work. The employee finds value in the work they are completing.

Work-Related Social Media

Outside competitors can use social media to try and steal the experience and skills of employees from their current place of employment. Some social media sites allow end-users to post where individuals currently work and in what area they reside. Some companies may use this to do other research on the individual (i.e., do they have a LinkedIn account? What does the individual do for their company?). It can be solved by the company establishing contracts or post-termination restrictions that would inhibit the employee from working for a competitor for a certain period after the conclusion of their employment (Case Study, n.d.). Legal action can then take place if there is a breach of contract by the employee.

Keeping Passwords Safe

To keep up with the changing times and growth of technology, some places of employment have incorporated social media to reach out to their community through advertising, marketing, and getting a better understanding of their target audience (Fusi, & Feeney, 2018). Owning a company’s social media account means that the number of employees or workers is not limited to the social media account passwords they maintain for the company’s social media accounts. The company could be at risk if the employee fails to safeguard the social media outlet password adequately, and an unauthorized user gains access to post on the company’s behalf. The company could be at risk if the employee fails to safeguard the social media outlet password adequately and an unauthorized user gains access to post on the company’s behalf.

In addition, employees who have access to a company’s username and password for their social media account need to know that they are not to disclose the access details to unauthorized users. It can also be in a policy as part of the employee’s job description and duties. Upon termination of the employee, whether through voluntary or involuntary means, the access to the company’s social media account needs to be restricted immediately by changing the password and username, if applicable.

Conclusion

Social media is a way for individuals to connect with other individuals. If used in the right way can be very beneficial for companies to connect and communicate with a targeted audience. This research has reviewed five social media issues that can impact the workplace: keeping passwords safe, work-related social media, Bullying and harassment, damage to employer’s public reputation, and using social media during work hours. This research has also offered possible solutions to each issue to alleviate the negative impact of social media in the workplace.

References

Forsgren, E., & Byström, K. (2018). Multiple social media in the workplace:

Contradictions and congruencies. Information Systems Journal, 28(3), 442-464.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/isj.12156

Fusi, F., & Feeney, M. K. (2018). Social media in the workplace: information exchange,

productivity, or waste?. The American Review of Public Administration, 48(5),

395-412.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0275074016675722

Pitafi, A. H., Liu, H., & Cai, Z. (2018). Investigating the relationship between workplace conflict and employee agility: The role of enterprise social media. Telematics and Informatics, 35(8), 2157-2172. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736585317308419

Song, Q., Wang, Y., Chen, Y., Benitez, J., & Hu, J. (2019). Impact of the usage of social media in the workplace on team and employee performance. Information & Management, 56(8), 103160. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378720618306645