Looking For Employee Perks to Offer? Facebook Access May be Enough
Employers who take a more liberal view toward allowing workers access to social networking sites may have a better shot at recruiting young talent, according to a survey by the Australia-based law firm Deacons.
Of those surveyed, nearly half reported that “if given a choice between two jobs equal in all other respects, they would choose an employer which allowed access to these sites over one which did not.”
According to the Deacons’ Social Networking Survey 2008, almost a third of 16-to-24-year-olds and a quarter of 25-to-34-year-olds who access the Internet from work use it at some time for online social networking activity.
“The results highlight the challenges organizations face when it comes to managing the impact of so-called Web 2.0 technologies,” says Nick Abrahams, head of Deacons’ technology, media and telecommunications law practice.
“There are risks with social networking sites in the workplace, such as adverse impacts on productivity, as well as heightened chances of harassment claims. One response is to block these sites, but that action carries its own risks.”
Abrahams notes that employers need to weigh the risks and learn to manage them the same way they have other new technologies such as e-mail, instant messaging and Internet access.
“While the traditional approach among firms has been to advise clients block these sites to guard against the legal risks … we wanted data on whether blocking these social networking websites might also involve business risks too,” Abrahams says.
“We’d argue the results suggest the pragmatic, longer-term approach is to manage, not ban, access,” he adds, noting that his firm doesn’t block Facebook or MySpace access. Both, however, are governed by the firm’s e-mail and Internet use policies.
Asked by the ABAJournal.com about the methodology, Abrahams said the telephone survey was conducted by Galaxy Omnibus in early April using a randomly selected and statistically significant sample of 693 Australian workers aged 16 and older.
Hat tip PC Magazine’s blog AppScout.
Updated 1:10 p.m. April 17 to add details about methodology and additional comments.
