Web 2.0 as an HR Strategy

Companies have increased their reliance on Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking, blogs and webcasts to communicate with and engage their employees, especially as the economic downturn has shrunk funding for human resources, according to the 2009 HR Technology Trends report by consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

The survey, which gauged the opinions of leaders at 181 large companies, found that since the start of the economic downturn, 61 percent of companies have increased their use of e-mail to communicate with employees; 32 percent have increased their use of Webcasts; 13 percent have increased their use of social networking tools; and 12 percent have increased their use of blogs for communication.

The survey also found that companies are adopting role-based employee portals the most rapidly, with 42 percent deploying or piloting the portals and 24 percent planning to adopt them in the next 24 months. The survey also found that while 86 percent of companies currently have an intranet, only 2 percent plan to implement one in the next two years. Rather, companies are planning to deploy technologies that are more personalized, such as blogs (13 percent), wikis (13 percent) and podcasts (10 percent) in the next 24 months, Watson Wyatt found.

I've heard many stories about shrinking HR budgets at federal agencies for quite some time, long before the economic crisis began, so I'm curious to hear from you all about the types of technologies your agencies are using to communicate HR policies and improve employee engagement.