Three Big Problems Health Care Organizations Using Workplace Don’t Have
Workplace by Facebook is a powerful, state-of-the-art internal communication platform that can revolutionize employee-to-employee communications, but it is not without some downsides.
Learning new technology can sometimes be overwhelming for staff, especially if they do not use a computer to perform their job; Facebook’s “big brother is watching” reputation comes with some privacy concerns; and the tech giant has yet to figure out how to make its product HIPAA compliant (which can also have an upside).
However, if your health care organization is considering a new internal communication system, here are three common problems your company will never have to deal with if you choose Workplace.
The High-Cost of Technology
In the non-profit sector, senior leaders love to hear the ‘f’ word … free! Facebook offers Workplace Premium to non-profits and staff of educational institutions free of charge. Your employees will have access to all communication, productivity, and enterprise features, and your system administrators get responsive tech support. Say goodbye to costly web programmer retainers, monthly bills for service time, and those pesky annual subscriptions that never seem to cover what you need.
System-wide Silos
Large health systems with multiple facilities often become fragmented communication silos with misaligned strategies and duplicate programs, resulting in frustration among workers and a waste of resources.
Workplace uses a Group feature similar to consumer Facebook, which dismantles silos and increases cross-functional collaboration and transparency. Every employee gets a user Profile which is only visible to fellow employees (and completely separate from their personal Facebook Profile). The Groups feature enables the creation of workgroups that employees can join and share content within (docs, pictures, pdfs). Groups can be open, closed or secret, and contain members from various departments working on the same project.
Imagine how many disjointed email threads you can avoid when you have a centralized space for workgroup conversations. You can create groups for your flu shot committee, annual benefits enrollment, mandatory training, to name a few.
Not Knowing Who Does What
Learning a company’s table of organization can be daunting for new hires and rotating medical students, especially when change management is occurring. However, using the Workplace Org Chart feature, employees can see a real-time visual representation of reporting relationships that govern workflow. The chart is like a roadmap enabling staff to put a face to a name or title while instantly accessing contact information — a simple but efficient way to improve operational efficiency.
Whether you are looking to implement Workplace for your entire organization or see the value for your day-to-day departmental operations, Workplace is a solution worth pursuing.
You’re welcome, Mr. Zuckerberg.
Check out this Workplace article featuring Michelle (Mimi) O'Gara: https://www.talksocialtome.com/workplace-facebook-health-care-best-practices/
