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Benefits November 24, 2009
Employers Regulating Office Use of Social Networking Sites
November 24, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A new poll finds 61% of full-time employees have a networking profile on a social media Web site, and 51% admit they spend time on the site while at work.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
A CareerBuilder news release about its poll reports that employers are increasingly keeping watch over their workers’ social networking communications. Specifically:
- 37% of employers have a policy on whether workers can communicate about the company on social media sites; 17% have implemented a stricter policy on employees communicating about the company on social media sites in the last year.
- 21% prohibit employees from communicating about the company. Thirteen percent have designated certain employees to post on behalf of the company.
- 16% monitor social networking profiles of employees and 14% monitor blogs.
According to the poll, 11% of workers say they spend an hour or more using their social networking site from the office.
Respondents also admit to fairly widespread use of their employer’s information while online with a quarter including their employer’s details on their profiles on Facebook or MySpace. Some 15% include company information on Twitter, and 13% of workers say they have blogged about their employer.
Some 13% of workers are “friends” with their boss on their social networking profile, while 22% of workers separate personal and business networking contacts into two different profiles.