Workplace by Facebook first hit the market in late 2016. This version of Facebook was designed for use within enterprises. The idea was to create an employee communication and engagement platform using features well-known by Facebook users, such as a social feed, groups, and messenger. The company reports that Workplace is currently used by more than 14,000 organizations globally, up from 1,000 at the end of its pilot testing.
But global domination is still a way off.
“Workplace by Facebook has nailed usability but not enterprise trust,” Craig Le Clair, vice president, and principal analyst at Forrester told Computerworld.com. Several companies that conducted pilot deployments of the application subsequently ended them “due to inflexible terms and conditions that indicate a lack of maturity in enterprise agreements.
“Others do not trust Facebook with internal proprietary communication,” Le Clair added. “Still others have not overcome Facebook’s association with fun rather than work.”
Does the Platform Give You What You Need? 7 Points to Consider
Before you decide whether Workplace by FB is the right employee communication and engagement platform for you, consider the following:
- Does the platform offer custom branding and menus? Categorizing content helps you target the right people with the right information.
- Does the platform offer storytelling modules? You’ll want to get stories from the field and publish curated content. Why? Because social feeds and curated content offer different experiences.
- Does the platform offer feedback survey modules? You’ll want these, along with the ability to analyze data instantly.
- Does the platform offer learn modules like interactive quizzes? This is a big one. Learn more about mLearning in enterprise.
- Does the platform offer gamification modules? These let you reward employees with points, coupons, and badges or recognize them on leaderboards.
- Does it give you instant employee engagement metrics? These include measures on employee satisfaction, employee engagement, app dwell, employee advocacy scores, knowledge scores, and more, it’s all about dashboard and metrics.
- Lastly, is the price of $3 per employee really worth it? All you really get is a social feed and instant messaging. You can find those features and more for a lower price.
Get Everything You Need – And All You Want
The point is, there are already many social platforms available for the enterprise, including Jive, Yammer (now part of Microsoft Office 365), and Google Hangouts. But these channels share many of the same problems:
- They eventually get noisy
- They don’t hold employee interest
- They don’t help you get your internal messages across consistently
- They don’t help HR address employee needs properly
If you are looking for metrics-driven employee communication and engagement platform, pick one that gives you everything:
- Two-way communication between you and employees
- Control over-targeting
- The ability to make the content fun
- User incentives for engagement
Want to learn more? See how hubEngage is different from Workplace by Facebook. If you are looking for a metrics-driven employee, user-friendly communication, and engagement platform talk to us to learn more about HubEngage.
Download The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Employee Experience Platform
To truly empower employees and optimize productivity, you need more than a communications tool. This guide frames the employee experience platform planning process and how to create the work environment your organization needs.
