Employer social media policies influence potential employees

Employers’ policy on social media influences potential employees: Hays white paper

An employers’ attitude to social media access at work is now impacting on whether or not a candidate will take a job, says recruiting experts Hays.

Latest figures show one in four candidates (25.7 per cent) would turn down a job if they did not have reasonable access to sites such as Facebook at work, prompting the need for organisations to ensure they have up-to-date policies in place, according to Hays.

The latest statistics come from a new white paper by Hays, titled Tomorrow’s Workforce, which looks at four key issues affecting the future of New Zealand’s workforce: the advancement in technology, globalisation of the jobs market, diversity and the Christchurch rebuild. More than 260 employers and candidates were surveyed by Hays for the white paper.

The survey results suggest employees now and in the future will expect to be allowed a reasonable level of access to social media at work for personal use. It found that two thirds access social media at work for personal reasons. Of these, 23.7 per cent said they access it daily while 42.1 per cent access it occasionally.

Many employers seem to agree with the expectations of candidates – 38.1 per cent believe that allowing employees to access social media at work will improve their retention levels. Already one third (32.8 per cent) of employers surveyed allow their employees to access social media at work, while a further 46.9 per cent allow limited access. Just 20.3 per cent allow no access at work.

However, more than half (56.5 per cent) of those who said they accessed social media at work for personal reasons, did not use their own devices to do so, meaning they are using company equipment. And 21.1 per cent of employees say they do not have a clear understanding of how to represent their organisation on social media.

“It is important to have a social media policy covering how social media is used for work-related matters, the use of it for personal matters at work, and what employees can and cannot say about your organisation in the social media world,” says Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

“If access to social media sites is allowed during working hours, the purpose of access should be made clear as should the acceptable level of use.”

Hays’ tips for social media policies:
• Spell out how social media should be used during work hours and if it will be monitored;
• Make it clear that company email accounts should not be used to sign up for social media sites used for personal reasons;
• You can request that work-related complaints are brought to the attention of the appropriate internal person rather than made via social media; and
• Explain how misuse of social media will be dealt with.

For more information about the white paper, please go to http://www.hays.net.nz/media-centre/index.htm and select Tomorrow’s Workforce on the top left hand side.

Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.

About Hays
Hays is the leading global specialist recruiting group. We are the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in Asia Pacific and the UK and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. We operate across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments.

Hays employs 7,800 staff operating from 245 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2012, Hays reported net fees of £734 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £128 million. Hays placed around 55,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 182,000 people into temporary assignments. 33% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific.

Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA.

ENDS

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