The main purpose of the given paper is to analyze and assess the current trends in regard to Human Resource Management or HR on Facebook. The key focus will be put on the trends established under the current conditions of the pandemic, which resulted in a major shift in the work structure. In addition, the recent political events led to the fact that people become both socially and politically active. It means organizations and businesses, such as Facebook, can no longer remain uninvolved in these dynamics.
The evidence suggests that there are nine major trends, which are the result of the pandemic, where people are mandated to stay in their homes and work remotely (Kropp, 2021). For example, Facebook is planning to have half of its workforce to be working remotely in a permanent manner (Hartmans, 2020). In addition, recent years’ political dynamics resulted in people becoming more and more aware of politics, and how businesses, such as Facebook, contribute to these dynamics. Although the company was always at the center of various controversies in regards to its power to influence the political tides within the country and abroad, it is still taking a deliberate stance on certain politically motivated movements, such as the anti-vax movement (Heilweil, 2021).
By analyzing and scanning Facebook under these nine major trends, it is clear that certain trends are evidently more prominent than others. In the case of the first trend, there is no evidence supporting the fact that the company will shift its focus from employee experience to life experience of employees, which can be due to the industry being one of the most employee-friendly ones. However, the second trend is evident, since Facebook is actively taking down any form of anti-vax content on its platform.
Although the gender wage gap might be taking place on Facebook too, the company does not precisely focus on it. The fourth and fifth trends are evident in regards to Facebook since the invasion of privacy has always been a big problem with the company, which is why it is cautious to add another controversy by monitoring its employees. The company is also planning to move many of its workers to remote format permanently because the pandemic revealed that many tasks can be done so successfully.
The sixth trend is not evident simply due to the statement’s generalist approach, because these events will not be limited to Facebook only if they are applied in a legal manner. In the case of the seventh trend, there is no evidence that the company will be accentuating the mental health of its workers because employees of the given industry are less exposed to such dangers. The eighth trend might influence Facebook at some level, but the majority of workers in the given industry are already highly competent and operate with the advanced technology with no major issues. The last trend is evident in regards to Facebook because the company is planning to have half of its workforce working remotely for the next ten years, which means that states will be interested in attracting individual talent.
Subsequently, on the basis of the scan of the nine trends, four evident ones are prioritized in this order. The first major influencing factor is political dynamics, which have already put the company under the radar of suspicion and dislike due to the events, such as Cambridge Analytica. In addition, Facebook, as a platform, needs to decide whether to be fully uninvolved in its content or make attempts to regulate some of its content. The evidence suggests that it is taking down anti-vax content, which is politically motivated since it is a movement.
Many Facebook controversies and problems with user privacy violations make the company highly reluctant to engage in further controversies, which is why employee privacy invasion will be more strictly regulated. Since the company is planning to shift towards a remote working format, flexibility will shift from location to time. The latter statement will evidently affect the fact that states will be interested in attracting individual talent, such as Facebook employees, rather than attracting the company itself, where the majority of the workforce is working remotely.
The first recommendation is centered around the trend that more companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates. Social media platforms are by nature should not involve in politics, since it would violate the notion of freedom of speech, but the recent well-known events, such as Twitter banning Donald Trump, show that these companies cannot or will not be completely uninvolved. In other words, Facebook should continue on its small political stances, such as the anti-vax ban, but since it is a social media company, it needs to be highly reluctant to engage in any major or mainstream political dynamics.
The company should not be pressured by its employees to take stance on certain political dynamics. Another HR recommendation is based on the trend that new regulations will limit employee monitoring. Facebook is infamous in regards to user privacy violations, which is why it also needs to be reluctant in monitoring its employees.
One of the major changes at Facebook revolves around its plan to have half of its workforce working remotely within the next ten years. Therefore, in the case of the trend, which claims that flexibility will shift from location to time, Facebook should strongly consider and focus on ensuring time-based flexibility for its remote workers. The evidence suggests that “36% of employees were high performers at organizations with a standard 40-hour workweek. Organizations that offer employees flexibility over when, where and how much they work, see 55% of their workforce as high performers” (Kropp, 2021, para. 13).
In other words, the company needs to ensure flexibility for all of its workers and must ensure flexibility for all of its remote employees. In the case of the trend of states competing to attract individual talent rather than trying to get companies to relocate, Facebook should not be concerned with relocation, because its workforce will not be tied to a certain location. Therefore, it should only consider relocating if the current state imposes unacceptably high taxes, which would endanger the company, which can be argued as unlikely.
The paper demonstrated how both pandemic and recent political unrest affected the current HR trends. The case of Facebook is evidently affected by trends in regards to remote working and political stance. The analysis showed that the nature of the business severely limits the extent to which Facebook can be politically active, which is why it should not appeal to its employees in this regard. The assessment also illuminated that the company should offer time flexibility to its workers, and avoid relocating and employee monitoring.
Reference
Hartmans, A. (2020). Facebook is hiring a director of remote work as it plans for a more permanent shift to working from home. Insider. Web.
Heilweil, R. (2021). Facebook is finally cracking down hard on anti-vaccine content. It is facing an uphill battle. Vox. Web.
Kropp, B. (2021). 9 trends that will shape work in 2021 and beyond. Harvard Business Review. Web.