Employee activism is a new movement that goes beyond customer satisfaction and employee engagement, and is becoming an underlying foundation in successful companies. Many employees are defending their employers from criticism and acting as brand ambassadors for their companies, both online and offline. It all begins with social media. Many companies are intrigued about ways to enhance employee engagement, but highly concerned about an employee’s use of social media, especially during the work day. But rather than limiting an employee’s media usage, companies should be promoting the benefits and encouraging their employees to become activists for the brand they represent. Many companies still remain somewhat skeptical, and not without reason. Reasons for caution include valid concerns about privacy, cybersecurity, productivity, and actions by rogue employees that could go viral. This behavior is the exception to the rule and most companies already take a lot of care in building their culture with people they can trust , so why not trust them to advocate as well? Here are some tips to successfully build employee activism:
- Start with your own internal communications – having “sharing” buttons on articles and announcements that are delivered to employees demonstrates a trust that these articles can be shared, while also providing employees with an easy way to share it.
- Strong leadership - Employee engagement starts at the top. In order to have strong employee engagement, employers need to articulate what their company stands for.
- Content is king – Compelling and engaging content is what employees are looking to share. Infographics, video, and print can bring media to life. Today, every company is a “media” company and every employee can be a storyteller.
- Rules of engagement – create a social media policy and make it a part of the employee orientation process. That way employees are clear on what is and what is not allowed. Make your guidelines clear so that employees will have the confidence in being corporately responsible both online and off.
Research is showing that those companies that allow access to social media, as opposed to having strict restrictions on usage, are viewed more positively by their employees in social media outlets. Building employee activists when business is good forms a solid foundation of ambassadors ready to defend your company when times get tough. The real risk is not empowering your employees to speak positively on your behalf.
Read Employees Rising: Seizing the Opportunity in Employee Activism from Weber Shandwick here!
