As per MessageLabsnew report on Social Networking: Brave New World or Revolution from Hell? regarding access to social networking sites – the greatest fears for employers are loss in productivity, followed by negative publicity.
Regarding loss in productivity – what I have noticed is whenever an employee faces a problem to which he does not know the solution, he checks on Google, and then resorts to various forums on which he might be able to look for solutions. Assuming an employer blocks access to sites which may actually be a community of developers or managers, wouldn’t productivity be damaged? moreover what about business opportunities that may arise from employee interactions on networking sites like linked in?
Regarding a possible threat to reputation, employers who have transparency in practices followed by them should actually encourage it. This is because a positive feedback from current employees may be one of the things which could influence talented individuals to join your organization. When everything else (Salary scales, perks etc.) is equal, then it’s the smaller things which swing the situation your way. A positive statement from a current employee may help the individual make up his mind. Also, Social networking ites could help in referrals, and the costs of hiring someone who is referred by an employee is much lower as compared to advertising employment opportunities. It also has the added advantage of having already vetted people being hired – people who have been vetted by the companies employees themselves.
It is also much better for productivity and morale if an employee joins who has an acquaintance or a friend working in the company as this would lead to faster acceptance – each company is a form of a closed society with it’s own unwritten protocols in terms of interactions among employees. Although every company would like to think it has a very open and friendly atmosphere, in fact this is not true.
Moreover, only a company that does not encourage transparency would actually be considering freedom of speech as a threat. Not to mention expecting any employee to praise a company when it does not in fact deserve praise would be, lets say… unrealistic?