Several months ago, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the Pivot conference in New York City. With me on the panel was Chris Heuer from Deloitte (and Social Media Club) and Pheobe Venkat, head of social at ADT. We discussed a less explored conversation when it comes to all things social—but every company has them:
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Employees.
The reality is that while places of work want to seperate employees and the work they do from their personal lives, they have really become intertwined, and technology usage even supports this (how many of us have used a personal device for work, or vice versa)? We discussed the phenomenon of a social workforce through the following lens:
Internal to internal (employees using social technologies behind the firewall)
Internal to external (employees talking about their work/companies out in the open)
External to external (employees engaging with multiple stakeholders exernally—outside of the company walls). The folks in Edelman’s Employee Engagement practice take a similar view:
Chris mentioned some interesting findings from Deloitte which found that high performing employees who leverage social technologies for work, stay with the company longer and continue to perform. Pheobe made the case that social activity at the employee level behind the firewall can make companies feel more like “families”. And we collectively discussed the potential for companies to leverage the power of employees and their social networks by thinking of them as “diplomats” or “ambassadors” instead of a highly connected liabiability.
If you have 20 minutes to spare—give the video a once over. This was a great panel from my perspective and a refreshing take on a topic that recieves less attention in general but can impact a business both in reputation and the bottom line.
