Blog #1 - Social Media in the Workplace - My Personal Experience

The business environment is changing at lightning speed.  Advances in technology, the age of the growing population, increased diversity, and global competition forces companies to reevaluate their priorities and the way they do business.  The decisions made by human resource management will determine whether or not a business is sucessful in handling these changes and staying in business.  Useful tools in aiding human resource management with the changing environment are social media.  Social media are defined on Wikipedia.com as "media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.  Social media use web based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue." Social media need to be incorporated in all aspects of the business environment - Sales, Finance, Technology, Marketing, Human Resources, etc.

My personal experience with social media began many years ago when I got my first "real job".  I accepted a position at a local public accounting firm as a staff accountant.  I had to share computers with others in the office, which was very challenging.  Realizing the inefficiencies this created, the partners agreed to purchase computers for everyone in the office.  Obviously, productivity improved.  We were given internet access so we could research new regulations on the irs.gov website.  Soon, the partners implemented a VPN connection so all the employees could put in their overtime during tax season at home.  All of these changes in the office were implemented over the course of a few years.

Needing a change from the long hours during tax season, I began looking for another job.  I posted my resume on Careerbuilder.com and received a call from a private company looking for a Tax Accountant.  I accepted the position and was immediately overwhelmed by the cultural differences.  The company had locations in Hong Kong, Mexico, & Canada as well as partners in Europe.  I was now interacting with people from very different cultures on a daily basis.  We had conference calls at all hours, and e-mailing and scanning documents became imperative to retrieve and report information quickly.  Web meetings sometimes included all 3,000+ employees where we could talk to each other and view the same PowerPoint presentation.

Thriving for advancement opportunity, I accepted my current position - Sales and Use Tax Manager - at a publicly held company.  Again - culture shock!  The company has a presence in over 37 countries and continues to look for additional opportunities elsewhere.  I can go on the intranet site and retrieve any company information I need.  Training courses are mandatory on a variety of different topics - Sexual Harassment, Workplace Safety, Work Etiquette, etc.  The courses are video presentations we can take at any time - at work or at home - via our laptops.  IM (instant messaging) is used just as frequently as sending an e-mail.  Wikis are used to work on projects with team members in different locations.  Each top executive has their own blog available to all employees.  The company uses Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to promote new products and retrieve customer feedback.  The Work-Life balance is engrained in the company culture and teleworking is encouraged.  I could go on!

It's amazing to look back and see the progress made over the last 14 years.  Social media have become a necessity for business success.  Technological advances made it all possible, and diversity and global competition made it a necessity.  I can't wait for the next 14 years!