Facebook's office network enables wider conversations

If you have a regular Facebook account, you will find Workplace, its complementary network for colleagues within an organisation, you will find the tool familiar.

It includes a personalised newsfeed, groups and events functionality, trending posts and an instant-message Work Chat app – but it is a separate website. You can chat with colleagues, share ideas, files and videos in groups and follow leadership speeches via Facebook Live in real time. Dashboard analytics have been specially included for Workplace, and multicompany groups enables employees from different organisations to collaborate safely and securely.
 

Involving everyone in decisions

Workplace can be an effective way of involving employees in everything happening across a business.

Strategic communications consultant Jane Revell was at Headlines, an internal communications agency with about 40 employees, when it started trialling Facebook at Work, as it was known, early in late 2014.

“It was a great way to share successes, showcase work and crowdsource ideas,” says Jane. “Before, we tended to only be involved in and aware of projects we directly worked on. “Our social news was added to Facebook, which is easy to update. You don’t have to trawl through emails to find information. It also means fewer group and ‘Reply all’ emails, which can only be a good thing.

“We used the polling function a lot, which meant we could involve everyone in decisions, even if they were away from the office. We chose our charity of the year that way.”

But despite a user count of nearly 1.8 billion, Facebook isn’t for everyone. “Some people don’t use Facebook socially and won’t want to use it for work,” says Jane. “That’s a challenge. You don’t want to alienate those people, so think about how to engage them. Businesses need to explain their expectations for a system like this and show employees examples of how it is going to be used.

“My biggest tip would be to define your purpose for using Workplace and use governance, training and guidance to ensure it can achieve those objectives.”