Jun 14 in Social Media
Written by: Heather Rast
It seems the IT techno-scanners in my friend’s office discovered one employee sent 348 instant messages one day last week. Someone (or maybe the sniffing software itself?) determined 348 IM’s equaled an investment of about 5 hours, 50 minutes of time. The department works an 8-hour day. The incident has social media stupidity written all over it.
Social media time suck and so much more
At a loaded cost of $63 per hour (salary and benefits), this employee cost the company around $365 in direct expenses in a single day. Consider if IM’ing were a daily habit for her. For even a handful of others in the 148-
person company.
Think about downstream effects like reductions in service delivery to internal teams. Mathematical and procedural errors due to lack of focus or delays caused by sense of urgency (she’s in the accounting department). Damage to team dynamics and increased resentment by others aware of her behavior. Some reports suggest employees are only productive 5 to 6 hours a day at best; what affect will social media have on our office behavior in the future? What changes will there be?
What’s the big deal?
I imagine the employee meant no harm. She might even be surprised to find out the exact number of instant messages she sent in one sitting. She probably considers herself capable of multi-tasking and staying on top of the most urgent work. Most certainly she considers parts of her job rote enough that the she could easily do it error-free without a lot of concentration. But these are just rationalizations, yes?
She put aside good judgment and moved beyond a sense of duty to her employer and team members to openly, deeply indulge in personal interests on time that wasn’t her own. This is not a scenario of a quick Facebook photo update over lunch about the best gyro she ever eaten at Momma Grita’s.
The lesson here is that we’re never an island. The choices we make – even when we’re not consciously aware our natural behavior is a choice – affect others, their outlooks and their outputs. When we indulge ourselves then justify our actions, we force others to make hard decisions. Just because we stopped following the rules doesn’t mean they should, and it may be unfair to ask for exception.
The tighter the grip, the more that slips through the grasp
Few companies survive when there’s an iron grip around employee expectations and accepted behaviors. Fear only germinates desperate, weak gardens. An open culture of trust supports the kind of free thinking leading to innovation and high output. Smart businesses will look for ways to walk the razor-thin line between the two environments with operational frameworks permitting some measure of personal latitude.
Take care so that one employee doesn’t tarnish what’s being built – and appreciated – by many others. Do what’s necessary to ensure the fractional minority of disgruntled or system-gaming customers don’t sully (online or IRL) what others find so rewarding and valuable about your business. Are crackdowns the answer? Maybe, maybe not. Social media doesn’t cause either situation, but it does add another element to the mix.
Perfection isn’t possible in human relationships, regardless of the value exchange or implied obligation or contract. Technology and an increasingly socialized culture will undoubtedly affect the way business is organized. I’m hopeful we advanced mammals can rise to the challenge.
Related posts:
- Social Media: The Critical Conversation You Didn’t Have
- Has the social media manager evolved to the information caretaker?
- Social Media Schooling
