Excellent tool for creating a more collaborative work environment
December 14, 2017
Excellent tool for creating a more collaborative work environment
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Workplace by Facebook (Formerly Facebook at Work)
Workplace by Facebook is being used across the entire international organization. The organization has country offices in about 40 countries, plus 3 locations in the US, one of them being headquarters, so the leadership was looking at a forum/networking/social tool that would enable people to meet each other, talk shop, make plans and interact socially.
- Ease of use - it's just like a personal Facebook, but only with your coworkers.
- Ability to control notifications. My personal choice is to have a daily digest of posts by groups and people I follow.
- Exceptional support from the Facebook team in implementation for admins.
- A variety of admin options to have groups that are mandatory to join (official announcements, for example, or your own team).
- Since it's an app or browser-based interface only, it doesn't work for in-the-moment discussions. For that we still use Skype.
- Mobile app is not as clean as the original Facebook (that has been improving).
- There is no guest feature to add people outside the organization (who do not have an organizational email) - consultants or interns, for example.
- Positive - improved cross-team communication.
- Positive - facilitate a collaborative organizational culture.
- Positive - improved feedback loop to leadership through ability to react/comment on official announcements.
- Positive - opportunity for employees in a large company to form affinity groups, improving satisfaction with work environment.
Several software solutions were explored and tested before Workplace. While Slack, Yammer, and Skype offered the ability to collaborate on a project and have in-the-moment conversations, there was a realization that much more was needed to create a truly collaborative culture. Workplace is a much better fit for our large (5000 employee) organization as an overall space to have discussions, build community, and exchange information.