It's a fairly widely accepted notion that if you treat people in a particular way long enough, they will start to behave like it.
For example, a jealous wife who accuses her husband of being unfaithful (when he isn't). Most of us have heard of stories where, after enough years of relentless accusation, the man will say to himself "well I'm getting as much grief as if I was actually knocking someone else off, I might as well make all the grief worthwhile!".
So, how do you treat your staff? Like adults who are old enough to make decisions for themselves? Or like school children who need to be governed like wild animals?
"If I let my staff use Facebook, they wouldn't do any work!" That just isn't true. If you employ people who don't want to work, then they wont work, whether you let them use Facebook or not.
I recently sat next to 2 men at a seminar at the Institute of Directors. They ran a lighting consultancy and employed about 30 people. The subject of staff using Facebook came up and they proudly boasted that they had spent £20,000 on an IT system specifically designed not only to prevent staff using sites like Facebook, but also to track which websites they are using and how long they spend on them.
Now, if you employed 300 people I might understand, but 30? What a waste of time and money, and how demoralising for their staff. You might as well say: "You are forbidden from having any communication with members of your family or friends during working hours".
This is not the 1950's and young talented people do not want to be treated like untrustworthy school children.
If you treat people like trustworthy adults, then most of them will behave as such. People respond to how they are treated.
So, imagine what it would do to your staff's morale and also to your image if you made an announcement to them as follows:
"We know that Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with your friends and family, but we also know it can be a big distraction. We'd like you to feel free to use Facebook at your discretion, in moderation, but please watch out for it becoming a distraction. We'd suggest 5-10 mins, 2 or 3 times a day."
You will have a happy crew, who will think you're great, and for this reason alone they will want to produce better results for you.
In any case, anyone with an iPhone or a Blackberry can get on Facebook without your computers - I bet some of you didn't know that!
So, don't waste precious time and IT money blocking websites your staff want to use. Just ask them to use their judgement and not take the p*ss. They'll love you for it.
So, as promised here are 5 real reasons why you should let your staff use Facebook:
1. It will make them very happy, and that in itself can be hard to achieve!
2. Using Facebook actually lowers the number of personal emails, phone calls and text messages sent
3. Your staff will become better communicators
4. Its a waste of management time policing a no-Facebook policy
5. Facebook now has 200 million members worldwide - you can't ignore that sort of popularity and you just look like a dinosaur if you do!
So, if you have had a no-Facebook policy, why not consider reversing it and making yourself look up to date and your staff very happy in the process.
I promise you that, on the whole, they wont abuse the privilege!
