What is Social HR?

By Abhishek Kathpal | Updated 25 September, 2023

In a fast changing world where technology and different social media platforms are popularly adopted to reinforce traditional practices or replace traditional practice, organizations are increasingly integrating social technologies into recruitment, development and engagement practices using Social HR.

What is Social HR

Social HR meaning and definition

The use of social media platforms for HR purposes is known as social HR. These duties are carried out by HR specialists through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However, beyond recruitment, it has also demonstrated value in enhancing employee engagement, focusing on employee development, and facilitating internal discussions. Social media use in HR is intended to augment hiring, employee engagement, productivity, and overall business value.

Advantages of social media for HR

  1. It reinforces employers' brand more effectively.

  2. Demonstrates firm activity while promoting events.

  3. It allows effective background checks for better hiring.

Disadvantage(s)

One of the major disadvantages that comes up with the deployment of social media channels for recruitment purposes is the fact that they don't reflect the worldwide candidate pool. Recent research indicates that compared to the general public, minority populations have a lesser user base on LinkedIn and Facebook. Therefore, under circumstances like this, diversity initiatives suffer.

How can HR use social media?

  1. For Social recruitment

Over 92 percent of recruiters use social media for hiring, and more than 100 portals are acting as job boards, according to a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), which provides some insightful information about the growing role of social media in recruitment. And as a result, social media was used to recruit over 87 percent of non-management and paid workers.

  1. Employee engagement

Many businesses have developed their internal networking infrastructures to increase employee engagement and employment. And also serve as a constructive outlet for airing grievances in a safe setting while also making it simpler for HR to comprehend employee attitudes and trends.

  1. Employee development

A few companies are enhancing their intranets with educational materials while promoting friendly competition among their staff members to boost staff development.

About the Author

Abhishek Kathpal

Abhi is the co-founder at Longlist.io. Funded by US based OnDeck, Longlist is currently enabling 50+ businesses to increase their candidate and client reach outs, automating the workflow across stages.