The Impacts That Social Media Will Have on HR Strategy in Relation to the Recruit, Retain, Retrain - Coursework Example

AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACTS THAT SOCIAL MEDIA WILL HAVE ON HR STRATEGY IN RELATION TO THE 3R’S (RECRUIT, RETAIN, RETRAIN) Introduction The social media provides Human Resource professionals with an amazing opportunity to get their employees engaged in office programs. The new technology used in the communication process is useful in highlighting employee knowledge, replacing the office newsletter, aiding in the recruitment process, and supporting corporate initiatives. Human resource departments have a huge role in selecting the most appropriate social media websites and formats from the myriad of options available and leveraging them to create some value for the organization (Segal, 2014, n.p). For this to happen, human resource experts require an in-depth understanding of the major benefits and drawbacks of using Social Media. The recent innovations on how people are communicating online through the social media are opening new windows as well as risks for corporations (Fuduric & Mandelli, 2014, n.p). The essay critically analyzes the impacts that social media has on the HR strategy in relation to the 3 R’s. Recruitment A few years ago, the thought of posting a job offer and receiving multiple responses within a few hours would probably be unheard of. Currently, this is a reality, and almost all businesses have the ability to receive hundreds of applications for all the job postings made each day. The recruitment pool is getting much bigger as the world struggles to get smaller with the new social media technologies introduced each day (Hanna & Knight, 2011, p. 53). The impact of the social media on the recruitment process is largely due to the expansion of the virtual industry networks as well as the skilled candidates within the same networks. Social media has played a significant role in the creation of a new close-knit community of candidates from different industries and backgrounds. Candidates seeking employment opportunities now have an opportunity to create personalized curriculum vitae through the use of online tools (Yu & Cable, 2014, p. 390). They are able to update their education history, publications, years of experience and even testimonials from past opportunities. It is now possible to create open forums where individuals from different industries and backgrounds can connect freely. In doing so, candidates have an opportunity to expand their network more easily for future job openings. The staffing process has not only changed for the candidates but is also affecting the recruiters in the human resource department (Compton, Morrissey & Nankervis, 2009, p. 1). Technological advancements in social media platforms have forced recruiters to become more proactive in their recruitment approach as well. An example of a social media platform that has revolutionized the recruitment process is LinkedIn (Gatewood, Feild & Barrick, 2011, p. 320). Most businesses the worlds over have now plugged into LinkedIn and are creating their own pages reflecting the types of projects they do and professions they may require in their departments. The pages also reflect on the current projects, position postings, and work culture of an organization. Proactive candidates interested in using this tool have the opportunity to research and develop their ideas about the businesses that interest them (Halzack, 2013, n.p). They can also link up with other candidates and discuss the opportunities available and the work experiences before applying to any job posting available. LinkedIn is a useful and positive tool that all parties involved in the job seeking, recruitment, and even hiring process can use to connect and find relevant opportunities. The world is changing technologically, and so is the way candidates and human resource departments should see the opportunities and the overall employment process. Social media communities and outlets such as LinkedIn should be used by the candidates to the maximum potential in ensuring that the brightest path is followed in career development and shaping of future prospects (Nash, 2012, p. 23). Also, the recent decision by Facebook to upgrade user profiles pages in offering a ‘LinkedIn style’ view is quite professional. Social media platforms are not only a trend to keep an eye on, but a global phenomenon that has a significant impact on the job market (Barker, Barker, Bormann, & Neher, 2012, p. 1). In today’s society, it would sound usual for all the human resource departments and candidates to sign up and actively participate in social media activities that help in expanding and exploring potential opportunities. A different and more specific example that covers more on the recruitment and training process in the beauty therapy industry touches on the people with autism (WebmMD 1). Therapists need to be trained on social skills in order for them to deal effectively with this group of individuals (Nordmann, 2007, p. 76). Social interaction is always on the biggest challenges experienced by people categorized on the autism spectrum. Such difficulty is obviously made more significant by problems affecting speech and language, and can even create problems with the “mind reading” capability. Beauty therapists must be trained on specific social skills in order for them to know what their patients are thinking (Nordmann, 2007, p. 46). Through social media platforms, beauty therapists can be able to share their observations and experiences on what a combination of tone or even body language could really mean in their career. Even though social media is a beneficial phenomenon in the job market, it has some risks too that the human resource department is concerned about. Even though it is anticipated that social networking will soon replace the curriculum vitae, employees and candidates are continuously required to be selective in the information they post on their online profiles. Thus, online profiles do not necessarily paint an accurate picture of the individual or organization (MOAC, 2011, p. 99). Some candidates are also more concerned with the security issues affecting the social media networks such as identity theft. Others are also wary of being victimized and discriminated whenever they provide some demographic information such as age and race to their employers. Candidates are often wary that such information could potentially exclude them from the recruitment process (ACAS, 2013, n.p). Employers tend to be affiliated to subjective factors such as the university attended or even the previous company worked for. Retaining It is true that social media is a useful tool in the recruitment process, but most human resource departments do not know that they can use these tools in retaining their staff (Moynihan & Pandey, 2007, n.p). Human resource specialists understand clearly that retaining motivated staff is quite vital to the success of the organization. A high employee turnover increases the expenses of the company and has a negative effect on the morale of the other employees. Developing and implementing an employee retention program using social media is important in making sure the workers maintain a high job performance level and boost the productivity of the company. One of the most debated topics within the human resource department is whether to allow employees to access social networking sites during working time. Critics of the use of social sites during work time argue that employees would spend the entire day checking through their Facebook, Twitter, or even YouTube account thus affecting the productivity of the company. But, chances are that if the employees are a good hire, they will check their profiles occasionally, and use the short distraction time to be more productive throughout the workday (Jue, Marr & Kassotakis, 2009, p. 3). The idea of expecting employees to work entirely throughout their shifts without distractions is a moot point in the current society. Companies that are still adopting such an attitude are living in the past and need to engage a new gear towards providing more freedom to their employees. Social media is an essential part of the communication process and will not be going away anytime soon (Solomon, 2013, p. 169). Transparency between the management and its employees creates a better environment for business (Miller, 2012, p. 166). Allowing your employees to use social media networks is good for businesses and allows workers to have a break in their daily activities. Also, it is important for clients to know who you are and how you interact around with your employees and customers by checking through your social media profile. If you privatize such platforms and ban your employees from using them, then your clients might not be able to see the type of company you run. Transparency in the activities your company engages in as well as allowing employees to use social media networks at work builds social capital and can end up helping your business positively (Smiciklas, 2013, n.p). Creating a social network increases the bottom line of a company (Hartley, 2010, p. 59). Every human resource department wants their employees to network, and a majority of that is possible by building a social capital online. If employees are fond of social media networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, there is a huge possibility that they will use them for the benefit of the company. An additional benefit of using social networking sites is that it builds morale within the workplace. It is possible for a company to lose some PR value by blocking their employees from using social media sites. News travels instantaneously and working for someone who doesn’t believe in the value of social media networking does not encourage employee retention. Talented employees are interested in working for companies that are motivating to work for. Productivity will never decrease just because an employer allows their employees to use social media sites. Productivity seems to reign whenever the morale of the employees is high (Podmoroff, 2005, p. 10). Though, if the morale is low, then the employees get complacent, and this can breed into a whole list of issues. The debate on the benefits of using social networking at work is not a debate to be worn easily through the use of persuasion techniques. Instead, it resides on the statistics of productivity in most workplaces. According to a projection by the Harvard Business Review, social media is expected to increase worker productivity by close to 20-25 percent at the close of the year. One recent study by the Evolv firm tracked the use of social media among workers and their input on the overall performance of the company (Chaney, 2013, n.p). According to their final data, it is noticeable that digital connectivity on social media platforms boosts the metrics of employee productivity and retention (Meister, 2013, n.p). Evolv’s study focused more on the hourly workers in the US, more so the call center staff. Using a sample size of 39,112, the study revealed that employees who used a maximum of four social networking sites stayed longer at their jobs than their counterparts who didn’t. Nevertheless, the ultra-social set of those employees who used more than five social networks demonstrated higher sales within a short time as compared to their colleagues. The fact that there are an inherently large number of social people explains why the latter group has the ability to handle more customer interactions. In a nutshell, allowing your employees to use social media sites relatively while at work is an adequate measure to enhance proper employee retention within the human resource department (LTL, 2010, p. 60). Beauty therapy is also a common application of the social learning theory in the retention process. The theory has been used in the conceptualization as well as treatment of most anxiety disorders. The first modern theory of anxiety in the beauty therapy industry is considered to involve the classical conditioning approach. The social learning theory is quite influential in salvaging the learning approaches related to the anxiety disorders in the beauty therapy industry. For instance, the theory suggests that people could develop fear towards a specific issue in society by seeing family members or other close friends express their fear through social platforms. Retraining Since technology changes constantly, there is the need for employee retraining in order to keep your workers current and updated. Most employees are unlikely to master the use of new technologies on their own. Thus, there is the need to incorporate employee retraining programs within the technological niche (Flynn, 2012, p. 22). Social media retraining is becoming a mandatory tool for the ever-growing range of companies such as Intel, Dell, and IBM (Friedrichsen, 2012, p. 338). While the training began as an added bonus in the fight for competitive advantage, most companies are now including the training as part of the core training curriculum. One obvious motivation for validating the social media retraining programs and policies of a company is to avoid the obvious social media disaster (White, 2011, p. 206). The poor combination of social media platforms can be quite hazardous rather than beneficial to the organization. That is why renowned companies like Sprint, Unisys, and HP are now creating social media training programs in order to avoid social media crisis (Meister, 2012, n.p). Also, the retraining programs are important in showing the employees how the use of the social media can be a treasured tool for increasing productivity and performance. Employees are often confused on how properly to use the internal social network of the company, especially where various platforms are involved. A good example of such occurrence is noticeable in Sprint Space’s internal social networking tool, where employees seem to lose sight of the set rules of engagement once they are online. Some employees are likely to reveal the social-media blind spot of their company when called out for their inappropriate online behavior (Greener & Rospigliosi, 2014, p. 678). Also, most employees do not understand the difference between the human resource department and the company and often think the two departments are independent. Due to such disconnects among employees, it is important to schedule a retraining program and establish specific social media rules and guidelines for the employees to follow. The guidelines work perfectly well in a social media literacy program and certify that the employees can share their work progress and practices on LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook profiles among other social media sites (Roach, 2015, n.p). Taking the right steps in developing a social media employee retraining program can produce a number of benefits to your business. The training creates a team of advocates that are equipped in representing their employer online (KFH Group, Incorporated, 2008, p. 81). Whenever you offer your employees that training, you empower them to be more effective and confident in sharing their ideas for the benefit of the company (Machin, Wilkinson & Business, 1995, p. 9). Not only will they share the news about your company, but will also feel confident in their online activity as they work to build your personal brand (TrainingToday, 2013, n.p). Employees will aspire to engage in amazing online deals once they feel aligned with your company brand. Incorporate traditional practices such as moderation, self-control, and courtesy into the retraining program and the company will have an all-round set of employees (Hayman & Warner, 2014, p. 27). During the retraining program, remember to be as discrete as possible on what you want your employees to adopt (Liff, 2010, p. 39). For many employees, the thought of fusing social media platforms with work brings up an intimidating and imprecise view. Even after creating a social media retraining program, some employees still wonder what do or say while online (Bertino & Matei, 2015, p. 88). Some even get stranded and do not know which social media tools to use when communicating with the customers. Thus, the human resource department should help out their employees by guiding them through the first few experiences of using social media in enhancing the communication process (Stolley, 2009, n.p). Employees should be provided with a guideline on how to create status updates and tweets that are targeted at communicating to different types of audiences. Through this, employees feel more supported in their efforts to break into the communication program. Conclusion The human resource department cannot ignore the debate on the relationship of social media in the recruitment, retain, and retraining process. Social media needs a good physical impression for both men and women. The platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn are important in simplifying the job search process and having a smart photo gives employers a good impression. Maximizing on the use of social media platforms to harness the social capital forms part of the bigger picture in an organization. The internal capacity of using social media platforms in the right manner catapults an organization into the market and offers effective and excellence opportunities for building a lasting solution. The ability to understand and integrate technology into an organization gives the human resource an easier time to handle common tasks. Even though social media is prevalent and preferred by most human resource managers, its use is still in a cautious trend. References ACAS, 2013. ACAS. 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