Corporates cosy up to start networking sites like Orkut

NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from social networking sites like Orkut, many companies are now creating similar websites to enable their employees spread across various locations interact with each other.

Interestingly, a number of companies are also discouraging their staff from logging on to Orkut, MySpace or FaceBook as communications on these public platforms are said to be more of personal and non-official in nature.

"Our employees are working on various locations in India, China and Ukraine and bringing these people to relate to each other was a very tough challenge," US-based software firm Global Logic's vice-president (people and corporate development) Rajul Garg told media.

Global Logic introduced a social networking site titled "Confluence" about two years ago to tackle this issue, Garg said. Driven by its popularity, the company has now introduced an advanced version of this website named "Glue".

Similar in-house platforms have been launched by a number of companies spanning across the technology, telecom, pharma and other sectors. Domestic and international giants like IBM, Google, TCS and Wipro all have such internal sites.

"We needed a window for establishing informal and ad-hoc connections between people of different roles and origins across geographies. Our in-house networking site "Meeting Point" and a forum titled "X-change" have filled that gap," Apollo International HR head Vijay Rai said.

Experts feel these sites provide a platform for creation of quality circles by providing common platform where employees are able to exchange ideas, information, common interests, helping in the creation of a sound office culture.

Besides, they help employees assimilate into a company's work culture at a faster pace and build progressive and positive workplace relationship, which is much needed in today's times of knowledge proliferation, Rai Said. As opposed to free-for-all social networking sites like Orkut or Facebook, the access to these internal sites are restricted to the employees of the companies.

On these sites, employees are able to chat, manage blogs, share pictures, post book reviews and even create communities. People having common interests even meet after office hours and enjoy, a refreshing change from the regular wheelings of workplace.

"We conduct informal employee orientation through these networks and new employees get faster on-boarding and are able to get into action faster," Rai said.

Global Logic also holds virtual chess competitions between employees based in India and abroad. With the help of such platforms, when an India-based employee goes to some overseas facility of his company, he feels at place being familiar with the people there, Global Logic's Garg said.

In the end, the companies also manage to add to their coffers with these initiatives by way of improving the productivity of their employees through such measures.

Employees get to know each other, a sense of belongingness is developed that eventually make them stay for longer durations and a stable workforce brings positive returns, said a senior level manager at a domestic IT firm.