Group risk insurer Ellipse has a very open approach to employees using social media in the workplace. Peter Fenner, marketing manager at Ellipse, says: “We ask employees not to use it on business [computers] as there
is a risk it could spread viruses, but we do keep a couple of laptops off the network that they can use whenever they like.
“Employees use it in all sorts of ways. Some will catch up with their personal lives; others will do work-related research.”
Ellipse is an active user of social media and has its own blog as well as using Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. It also introduced Yammer in the workplace earlier this year. “We are only a small company, but we were looking at setting up the intranet to improve internal communications and Yammer offered us all the functionality we wanted,” says Fenner. “It is much more direct and friendly than email, which has made a difference in the workplace.”
Social media is also regarded as a valuable way to see how the company is perceived. “We do monitor what is said about us by anyone, including customers and employees,” says Fenner. “It is a very immediate way to see how the company is perceived and while the downside of social media may be that negative things can spread very quickly, we can respond quickly, too.
“If people are talking about you, they are talking about you. That has to be a good thing."
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