Trust staff with Facebook, says expert

Posted by HR Zone in Managing people on Wed, 09/07/2008 - 09:29

An expert is urging bosses to allow staff to spend 5% of their time experimenting with web networking tools, including Facebook, whilst at work.

Scott Gavin, of Applied Trends, believes Web 2.0 technologies will never reach their true potential or deliver ROI for organisations unless staff are trusted to make the most of collaborative tools in ways that make sense to them.

"When it comes to implementing Web 2.0 in a business environment, IT departments need to facilitate, then get out of the way," he said. "Business leaders need to back their people to spend time experimenting with wikis, blogs, tagging and social networks."

According to Gavin, 5% is not an arbitrary number, and it provides a specific period of time each week when employees and teams are given validation to experiment.

Speaking to HRZone.co.uk, Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: "There can be huge benefits to employers encouraging better IT skills for their staff, including the use of Web 2.0 tools to encourage networking and innovation in the organisation.

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Editor's Welcome

 

Hello! And welcome back as we enter 2012, with a busy year ahead of us all. With talk of double-dip recessions, a possible partial or even full break-up of the Eurozone and unemployment rates set to hit nearly 9%, topics such as organisational streamlining, staff resilience and talent management are likely to be on many an HR professional's lips over the next 12 months.
 
But to lighten the gloom here in the UK, we also have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and its attendant public holidays to look forward to at the start of June. Followed by two weeks of Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September, each generating their own excitement, but also issues to work through for hard-pressed HR departments trying to sort out the multifarious staffing issues in advance.
 
So with an interesting but challenging year to come, HRZone promises to be with you, supporting you all the way and providing our usual insightful blend of news, analysis, community blogs and expert comment to help you sort the wheat from the chaff. As ever, we love to hear from you too so feel free to either post your words of wisdom to our blog section yourself or, in the case of longer, more in-depth ‘expert voice’ articles, drop me a line with any ideas to cath.everett@siftmedia.co.uk.....
 
Cath Everett
HRZone Editor 
 
 
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