With social media, what you don’t know can seriously hurt your organization. One 2010 survey found that employees estimate spending roughly four hours every day checking multiple email accounts, with up to two hours spent on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. A 2012 Salary.com survey found that 64 percent of employees visit non-work related websites daily. And don’t think blocking employee access to social media on company networks is the answer; personal smartphones and tablets are ubiquitous, and easily fill the gap.

The rub for today’s organizations is that while social media use at work has definite risks, it also is one of the best ways to empower and engage employees. Increasingly, in our connected 24/7 businesses, the line between work and personal time is blurring. This is especially true for Generation Y employees; as long as they meet deadlines and deliver, these employees don’t feel that it’s particularly useful to distinguish between time spent updating Twitter or engaged in team meetings. Organizations may beg to differ, especially when an offensive or inappropriate blog post or tweet can damage their brand, lower employee morale, and even lead to workplace lawsuits.

Yet, most organizations don’t really know how their employees are using social media, either personally or professionally, let alone what impact it’s having on employees’ overall levels of productivity.

That’s why it’s so important, before you set policy, to know how your managers currently handle social media use at work, as well as how its use by employees is effecting their management. Get at these fundamental issues by asking managers five key questions:

1. Have your employees’ use of social media ever triggered a workplace lawsuit or regulatory investigation?
2. What impact have your employees’ personal use of social media during work hours had, if any, on their productivity?
3. How do you use social media, if at all, to help manage your projects and employees?
4. Have you reviewed all applicable federal and state laws governing electronic data content, usage, monitoring, privacy, e-discovery, data encryption, business records and other legal issues in all jurisdictions in which you operate, have employees or serve customers?
5. Could you comply with a court-ordered “social media audit”, by producing legally compliant business blog posts, email messages, text messages and other electronically stored information (ESI) within 990 days?

Social media can speed innovation and collaboration, but ONLY if your employees know how to both use it as well as steer clear of its many pitfalls. Start by asking managers these simple questions; they often surface extremely important information that, especially in larger organizations, you may not have been aware of. Finally, remember that for reasons of both confidentiality and fear, getting access to this sort of information is not always easy. It’s therefore important that organizations create mechanisms by which examples of social media use (and abuse!) can be regularly shared with the broader employee base.

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About the author: Steve Miranda is Managing Director of Cornell University’s Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS), a leading partnership between industry and academia devoted to the field of global human resource management. He is also a faculty author of the new eCornell certificate program,Social Media in HR: From Policy to Practice. Prior to CAHRS, Miranda was Chief Human Resource and Strategic Planning Officer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world’s largest professional HR association, serving over 260,000 members in over 100 countries.

If you’ve got a hiring hole to fill, breathe easy. The good news is there is a workforce out there, willing and able to take on complex tasks quickly and get your business moving. But the go-to techniques that used to work in wooing ace candidates or in narrowing a broad field may not cut the mustard now.

Among the hiring trends for 2013 that are emerging, is a heavy focus on a highly personalized, digital approach. Here’s a glimpse of what seems to be key as the next ‘season’ nears.

1. More mobile

TechSling reports this will be the year more job hunters let their thumbs do the applying. With so many smartphones and apps, Techsling notes more candidates are looking to apply for posts via their mobile devices: “Job seekers and employees manage almost every aspect of their professional life digitally so recruitment managers need to get ready
for this. They need to invest in recruiting initiatives that include support for mobile and tablet technology.”

2. Upping the candidate experience

Sarah White & Associates figures that the candidate’s personal experience throughout the recruitment process is going to be more important than ever. This means active engagement, offering a positive and rewarding experience the whole way through, and putting in some extra hard work at the marketing and networking stage.

3. Niche recruiting

It’s not one net to catch them all – particularly for smaller businesses. Responding to the increasing difficulty of filling critical positions, some experts predict that more small businesses in 2013 are likely to make the investment in external recruiters, often for openings in technical niches.

4. More grunt work

Recruiters will continue to shift their emphasis away from the task of “finding” candidates, according to this post by Dr. John Sullivan. Instead, he writes, there will be a move toward the still tricky task of successfully “selling” star talent. This will see many recruiters reframing what they do, and putting the premium on knowing their candidate well – and
their target.

5. A growing emphasis on online candidate assessment

Dr. John Sullivan also writes that “to ensure that managers see only candidate slates

that exclusively contain high-quality candidates, more applicants for high-volume jobs will be required to complete a brief but effective online technical knowledge and skill assessment test.” Pre-employment psychometric tools help employers to save time and recruitment costs. In a sea of similar-sounding resumes, this kind of testing can help to make sure improve accurate selections. The testing will also highlight long-form questions – a sort of virtual interview before the short list even makes it to the first cut.

6. Non-active prospects fire up social media

For people who aren’t targeting a specific firm, LinkedIn will be the tool of choice for people looking to step up their career. That means including a new search layer of strategy in targeting candidates. “Companies will use industry-related groups, feeds and networking pages to develop relationships with a pool of pre-qualified candidates for a variety of positions – reducing the time required to fill a vacancy before they're even ready to post a job,” according to this post at Hcareers.com.

7. Deeper profiling

Once the resume gets the OK, more employers are taking a look at what a candidate brings to the table healthwise. Although not yet a popular policy, for example, many U.S. hospitals refuse to hire smokers. Still other companies are screening out people who show tobacco in their systems at all. It all ties back to what the employer is willing to pay in
health insurance costs (and, ostensibly, to have a healthy workforce for the long run). It’s precariously personal territory, and may not roll into a trend, but it is worth considering how soon your firm is willing to start tackling employee health issues.

In the end, employers are taking extra measures to ensure that the quality of the candidates they are bringing in are much better. With these trends on the rise, there is greater likelihood that employers will create much stronger teams by filtering out the bad applicants and only hiring the top 10%.

About the author: Christine Bird is the Co-Founder of Cream.hr, a psychometric pre-employment assessment platform that determines top-performers based on a powerful proprietary algorithm. Christine lives and works in San Francisco, California where you’ll find her running half-marathons, hosting dinner parties or spending time with her dog, Tucker. Connect with Christine on Twitter at @christine_bird.

Photo credit: iStockPhoto

Offices are a place of business… usually. The line between work and personal lives is being blurred as 9-to-5 jobs go out the window and professional and personal lives blend.

A direct comment that could be deemed sexual harassment is now an irregularity in physical places of business. Social media is a more subtle outlet for sexual harassment.  With policies and procedures in place for more direct harassment, companies may be overlooking social media sexual harassment. Ensure every employee enjoys a harassment free work place by taking action now.

What is social media sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment online is very similar to in-office incidents. Both are unwelcome sexual behaviors, which could be expected to make a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. This includes sexually suggestive behavior, offensive photos, repeated requests to go out and written emails. However these aren’t the only possibilities. Social media is just the newest outlet.

• Social media sexual harassment can include cases of bosses or coworkers making unwanted sexual comments, suggestions and advances on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
• Whether these actions take place during the work day or not, if the employee being harassed feels uncomfortable by a co-workers comment on a friend’s wall or after receiving a sexually-based tweet, sexual harassment is taking place.

Some may feel the anonymity of online communities, or the nature of social media sites themselves, promote sharing without professional accountability. This may be thoughts on another co-workers looks, sexual orientation or something completely different. While sharing is encouraged through social media networks, lines can be blurred when it comes to distinguishing between personal use and professionalism,

How do I address it?

Addressing sexual harassment is often a training HR departments conduct with staff shortly after hire. Most businesses have policies in place for how a case of sexual harassment should be handled and reported. However, when it comes to social media, many are at a loss. Create an ope

n environment where reporting a case of sexual harassment can be discussed without fear of judgment or confidentiality breaches and put a policy in place that is social media specific.

• Always ask for evidence. You want to get as much information as possible whether it’s a link, screen shot, etc. Ask to see it yourself online when possible to make sure no editing has taken place.
• Talk to both parties. Much of what we say is in our tone and body language. It is easy to misconstrue a text, IM or Facebook message. Hearing both sides of the story is incredibly important when it comes to dealing with a case of sexual harassment that doesn’t take place in person.
• Look for patterns in the alleged harasser. A one-time incident may be a miscommunication, but repeated messages that make another feel uncomfortable isn’t – especially after the matter has been addressed.
• Make sure your sexual harassment policy includes information regarding personal emails and social media accounts. Having a policy in place will not only encourage those being harassed to take action according to procedure, but it may play the role of deterrent for future cases.

As a part of the HR department, or as the entire HR department which is often the case at small businesses, recognizing that in-office sexual harassment can transcend working hours and platforms is essential to addressing any situation that arises. Work with your company to create a social media section of your sexual harassment policy so it is clear what is crossing the line as personal and professional lives blend with social media. Friending a co-worker on Facebook may seem like a good idea, but sometimes it’s just better to leave it at the office.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

Author Bio: Erica Bell is a small business writer who focuses on topics such as HR software and social media trends. She is a web content writer for Business.com Media.

What was once a professional networking tool used by a select few has now become a critical aspect of the lives of a huge portion of the population. Social media can be a powerful resource for businesses wanting to expand, diversify, or appeal to a wider demographic.

This starts with the simple concept of branding. Branding is more than choosing a name for your company and defining a business plan. You must create an impression that will last with your targeted audience. WordPress themes, for example, allow you to develop a website and blog that are geared toward your market and feature a branded appearance and “feel” that you can carry through your social media to establish recognition and continuity.

There are several ways in which you can improve your business through the use of social media:

Recognition as a Resource in Your Niche

If you are seen by your readers as a resource for valuable information related to your niche you will develop the reputation of being a reliable, established voice that your audience will trust and come to for information, products and services.

Social media allows you to provide information not just on your individual company, but on the actual market in which your company is involved. This will bring those with questions to you and keep them coming back to learn more. Once you are trusted even by a few, this opinion will spread.

Visibility

If no one knows that you exist, how can you expect to build a customer base? Involvement in social media puts you right in front of the tremendous audience that uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare on a daily basis. Social media gives you the opportunity to be involved in the daily thoughts and activities of your targeted audience through creating and participating in conversations, offering useful or interesting tidbits of information, and inviting potential customers to interact with you on your social media platform and through your other forms of internet presence.

Find New Leads and Opportunities for Expansion

Being involved in social media allows you to seek out new leads, clients, and ways to expand the scope of your business. With a social media presence you can attract clients and referrals or determine if there are needs in your market that you could fulfill through new projects. Linking your social media platforms and other forms of internet presence such as blogs and websites will develop your identity as a frontrunner in your market and encourage people to refer friends, suggest new projects, and look to you for opportunity.

Company Culture

Your company culture is important to the success of your business because it is what will make you stand out. When your customers recognize your brand, what impression do you want it to make? Developing a social media strategy will force you to focus in on what makes you you. You must create your company personality and identity in order for you to maintain your social media involvement so that your participation on these platforms is optimized to appeal to your targeted audience.

Improved Hiring Abilities

Your company is really only as good as the people that comprise your team so you should devote attention to selecting candidates that will make a beneficial contribution to your company. Social media involvement reduces the need to sift through endless piles of resumes and generic cover letters by letting you focus only on those people that are involved in your network.

Involvement will show that they are fully aware of your company and can demonstrate their compatibility with your company culture. Social media is a prime illuminator of personality, giving you the opportunity to pinpoint those candidates you feel would be a good match so you can shorten the hiring process and improve your chances of building a strong, valuable team without need for adjustments later.

Photo credit: norebbo.com

About author

Olga Ionel is a creative writer at ThemeFuse.com. She is passionate by WordPress, SEO and Blogging. Don’t forget to check out stunning  WordPress themes (warning: no boring stuff).

When you're recruiting employees, you're always looking for possible applicants to fill the jobs you need to fill with competent and qualified future employees (or exceptional candidates when possible). You need to keep an ear to the ground and use every possible avenue of recruitment to find people who are qualified for various positions.

Recruiters have the advantage of finding lots of potential employees quickly through social media. 98% of Americans use social media, and LinkedIn is the dominant business social media site and fourth biggest social network in general. You can easily find candidates, if you know how to look.

Find people

Clearly, it's easy to find people on social networks – but where should you look? It's usually best to stick to social networks that have established business presences. In most cases, this will include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and perhaps Tumblr (especially for artistic fields). Myspace and Google Plus are two more options, but they reach smaller audiences (in the case of G+) or do so in less professional ways (as with Myspace).

Where are you likely to find the candidates for each particular job? Facebook can be a great way of reaching people, but people are wary about privacy and who might see that they're looking for a new job, since coworkers and friends are often in the same networks. LinkedIn is a very safe option for career professionals, while Twitter might reach a younger or more casual demographic, and Tumblr is bursting at the seams with creative professionals.

Behave yourself

When looking to recruit people, you don't want to simply send out spam, meaning link after link to job postings without any personal presence. You want to establish yourself and show your personality, as well as sending out job postings now and again.

Don't spam people with advertisements. If you have a message asking if someone is interested in your job, don't send it to more than one person – tailor it to each individual based on their resume and profile, and if they say no, don't be persistent.

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