One in five candidates would turn down a job that did not grant "reasonable" access to social media sites such as Facebook at work for personal use, according to new figures from Hays Banking.
Results from 870 employers and candidates surveyed for Hays' white paper – Tomorrow's Workforce – found that half of those surveyed already access social media for personal reasons. Of these, 13.3 per cent said they access it daily, while 36.4 per cent access it occasionally, Hays stated.
One-third of employers already grant employees access to social media at work, 43.2 per cent allow limited access, and 23.7 per cent allow no access at work.
Close to half (44.3 per cent) believe allowing employees to access social media at work will improve their retention levels, Hays stated.
More than half (56.3 per cent) of employees who said they accessed social media at work for personal reasons were using company equipment and one quarter (25.3 per cent) said they did not have a clear understanding of how to represent their organisation on social media.
"It is important to have a social media policy covering how social media is used for work-related matters, the use of it for personal matters at work, and what employees can and cannot say about your organisation in the social media world," Hays Banking director Jane McNeill said.
"If access to social media sites is allowed during working hours, the purpose of access should be made clear, as should the acceptable level of use," she said.
Hays recommended employers adopt a clearly spelled out social media policy outlining how social media should be used during work hours and if it will be monitored.
