Workplace by Facebook is an enterprise social network, designed for communication within companies. Just like Facebook,
#DigitalDiaries
UCLPartners creates a Workplace community Amanda White, Head of Communication at UCLPartners, explains how Workplace by Facebook can bring people together Learning from the past It was actually watching my husband use Workplace for his job in the tech sector that first inspired me to look into it for UCLPartners. I wondered: could we benefit from a similar approach to sharing and connecting in healthcare? After all, internal communications here can be challenging. With many employees working on site with our partner organisations, it was difficult to connect with everyone regularly. And although our SharePoint was great for hosting documents, it wasn’t hugely accessible or interactive. Through surveys and anecdotal feedback, employees told us that we needed a more effective way to connect within and across teams. They needed the opportunity to engage with communication, whether that was by sharing their own content or responding to others. Workplace ticked all those boxes. It also had the added benefit of familiarity; it looks and feels just like Facebook, which many employees use outside work.
Workplace – in a nutshell Workplace by Facebook is an enterprise social network, designed for communication within companies. Just like Facebook, Workplace includes features like newsfeed, chat, groups and live video. Only it’s a much more exclusive club; company-specific sites mean that only employees can be users and see the information shared there.
“It’s often challenging to convince people that their work is interesting enough to share. That’s something Workplace is helping us to change.”
Workplace
Gathering support If you picture a typical Facebook newsfeed, you’ll most likely see videos of puppies in funny hats. This was the senior leadership team’s chief concern when it came to Workplace: could it be used appropriately in a professional environment? Firstly, Workplace accounts are entirely separate from Facebook so there’s no danger of personal content being shared. Secondly, using Workplace carries the same implicit guidelines for online behaviour that employees follow on any other website or tool. And if there was any confusion, we would put explicit ones in our user guide. Workplace doesn’t come with instructions – it’s intended to be so intuitive that you don’t need them. However, we wanted to be prepared. We looked at how other companies were using Workplace and put together a user guide. We also held drop-in sessions where we explained how it works and gave people a go. Each team has a ‘Workplace champion’ for ongoing support. After introducing the idea of Workplace in company meetings, we raised awareness on launch day by handing out branded cupcakes and promotional leaflets, and making it everyone’s default homepage. However, perhaps our most effective decision was publishing a never-beforeseen video of employees talking about working here. People instantly felt a personal connection as they watched a friendly video with familiar faces.
95%
Creating supportive communities It’s often challenging to convince people that their work is interesting enough to share. That’s something Workplace is helping us to change.
33%
Instead of pushing out news centrally, we’ve started a rota so that each month a different team gives an update. One team stitched together selfie videos, complete with funny filters, to give personalised updates. From the number of likes filling the screen, it was clear people enjoyed it. People are embracing the task and proactively sharing their work, seeking feedback and coming up with innovative ways to share their news.
29
By tagging people in posts, we can also acknowledge contributions in a way that wasn’t possible before. Our Managing Director joins in too, from commenting on a new intern’s post to welcome her, to posting his own blogs.
x2
Alana-Rose Mercuri, Project Support Officer, loves that Workplace is versatile. She says, “I run polls so people can tell me their preferred dates for training and post photos from events.”
employees created accounts
using mobile app monthly
groups
target for average weekly posts per active group
Our Office Manager, Mindy Smith, says it’s particularly useful for sharing urgent messages. “Unlike all-staff emails, you can edit messages and easily see how many read your message.”
Naturally, it’s a gradual process and there are those who haven’t warmed to Workplace yet. We recognise that we need to engage people over time and draw them in in different ways. But Workplace offers support in this area, providing a dashboard where administrators can get tips on how to increase usage. By inviting our people to share and celebrate their working lives, we hope others will be inspired to follow suit. For me, it’s lovely to see how proud people are to share their achievements and the supportive community this is creating.
The IT security story Chris Noble, Senior IT and AV Officer at University College London, explains that Workplace is simple to run and keep secure “Facebook tested Workplace for a year before launch and it’s now used by over 1,000 organisations. It’s very simple to get up and running, working across multiple desktop and mobile platforms. It has a fantastic IT administrator function to better handle the day-to-day administration. “I had no concerns from a security standpoint: the data stays with the company which allows total control; and it adheres to the EU-US Privacy Shield framework.”
The digital tool featured in this case study is an example of a resource being used by UCLPartners and/or its partner organisations. Its usage does not indicate endorsement by NHS Digital.
