Insilencio

3 out of 4 Flemish employees do not accept their boss as a friend on Facebook.

Facebook users keep their work and private lives separate.
Flemish companies do not include social media in their recruitment policy.

For Flemish employees, adding their boss as a friend on Facebook is not done. However, when it comes to their colleagues, it is a different story altogether. Facebook enhances social interaction and the group dynamic in the workplace. Flemish companies still do not conduct a carefully designed Facebook policy, despite the fact that most people look for work on-line.

Our research has been performed on a representative sample of 1,062 employees from among the Flemish active population. This has shown that 65.5% of respondents are on Facebook.

Non-existent Facebook Recruitment Policy
Only few employees are keen to use Facebook for recruitment purposes. When asked whether they would be prepared to place vacancies on their profile, they respond with very little enthusiasm. Less than 5% do this spontaneously, 22.8% do it upon request, and almost 1 in 4 (24.1%) if it is made compulsory by the company. Even if it became compulsory, almost half of the employees surveyed (48.2%) would not be prepared to display the vacancy on their profile. 10% of respondents would do so against payment. However, only 2.7% of respondents think that Facebook could help them in their search for a job.

This reticence could be due to the fact that Flemish companies are still not making much use of Facebook as an additional recruitment channel. 94% of employees surveyed indicate that their employer does not have a Facebook recruitment policy. Only 3% of respondents are encouraged to post vacancies on their profiles, and 2.8% even state that the company for which they work does not like or expressly prohibits the advertising of vacancies on personal Facebook profiles.

Lack of Social Media in HR Policy
"Facebook is still ignored as a recruitment channel. This is a great pity, because many companies are losing opportunities for attracting the right talent. It is, therefore, high time to change the mentality of using social networking sites in HR campaigns. In the year 2011, companies need an integrated social media strategy. We know from experience that companies that manage to creatively integrate Facebook into their recruitment campaigns achieve better results. The younger target groups should certainly be given due consideration. They are extremely mobile and constantly on-line. In other words, integrating social media in employer branding campaigns gives a better return on investment. And that is vital. Especially now that we have come through a financial crisis and with the economy on the up, the war for talent is more intense than ever before," states Wim Demessemaekers, Managing Partner of Insilencio.