Over the last 17 months, the number of businesses that reported taking disciplinary action against employees for social media misuse doubled from 35% in Nov. 2011 to 70% by April 2014, according to new study by a prominent, global labor and employment law firm.
During the same period, the number of businesses with official social media policies grew from 69% to 80%, proving that social media policies don’t change employee behavior.
What’s needed is more social media training. If you’re organization is leveraging social media for business gain — and you’re not social media training all your employees — you’re flying without a net.
In the right hands, social media improves productivity and increases corporate valuations. But in the hands of an untrained employee, social media misuse is an unmanaged risk.
“Employers should make social media training a priority,” the study says. “Training employees reduces risks, yet, there has not been any significant increase in the number of businesses providing employees with training on appropriate use of social media.”
Ninety percent of organizations worldwide use social media for business purposes. And they should be doing more to reduce risk.
To download a copy of the report, click here.