Companies offer staff exclusive social networking platforms

 

 

 It's a busy workday, yet Divya Kutty, an Infoscion, has her head buried in a Facebook-like social networking site. She signs off after posting a brief reply on one of the groups - a fervent discussion about training sessions for a new technology skill. "We have formed skill and technology-based groups for employees to interact and exchange notes on the latest technology updates and the current hot skills," Kutty says, talking about 'InfyBubble' - a social network created for and by Infosys employees. PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) platform 'Spark' engages around 74% of the global staff, which accounts for more than 1.40 lakh employees. Mark Driscoll, human capital leader, PwC India, says, "We needed to break down the lines of service and geographic barriers so we can truly connect as one firm and benefit from the strength of our network and expert knowledge resources. Aegon Religare Life Insurance introduced the 'Lets Chat' platform as the management felt the need for a direct connect with the workforce. The platforms work both ways - the employees are able to connect directly with the leaders, while the company is able to understand the employees better.

"Here we have formed skill and technology-based groups wherein employees can interact and exchange notes on the latest technology updates and the current hot skills," she says. Kutty was talking about 'InfyBubble' - a social network created exclusively for Infosys employees, by the Infosys employees themselves. The organization, with more than 1.60 lakh employees across locations, rolled out the internal social networking platform on an experimental basis as the need to let "employees interact informally with each other in a secure environment was felt," said Richard Lobo, head, employee relations, of INFOSYS.    LOVELY SAMAL        PGDM 1ST YR.