Employee Facebook Groups - the Key to Stronger Connections during COVID-19

Employee Facebook Groups – the Key to Stronger Connections during COVID-19

For many people, working from home is like a dream come true—no snarled commute to the office or filling the gas tank once a week. For others, it is an isolating and overwhelming experience, as employees miss regular interactions with colleagues and office friends.

As more workers continue to embrace the remote work life in the wake of COVID-19, we thought it was time to explore how an employee Facebook group can help business teams stay connected and in touch while working from home.

Why FNBO Created an Employee Facebook Group

For many businesses, COVID-19 stay at home orders represented the beginning of a remote work journey. New digital tools made it possible to connect teams on a professional level, but employees were missing out on the daily comradery with their peers.

At FNBO, we noticed this early on and quickly took to social media to reconnect. Facebook is a commonly used platform and a Facebook employee group offered a simple and convenient way for employees to virtually get together over humorous antidotes, wellness tips, milestones, and more.

Since its inception, the employee group has been a tremendous success, with 2,500 posts, 9,000 comments and over 95,000 reactions in the first 4 months alone.  However, the employee Facebook group has application beyond the pandemic.

At FNBO, for example, our employees are spread across a variety of markets. The Facebook channel helps to connect the organization across geographies, giving us a face to go with a voice when we chat on the phone.

FNBO has always been in the business of building long-lasting relationships with our customers. The employee Facebook group now allows us to foster stronger connections and those same long-term commitments with our colleagues, even while working remotely.  

Create Your Own Employee Facebook Group

Setting up an employee Facebook group is easy. Simply sign into your Facebook profile and click “create a group”. It’s simple to connect employees by inviting them directly through the page.

It takes slightly more effort to promote the group and get employees to engage with it, but there are several tricks to help you realize success.

Think about the needs of your users

For example, when FNBO first transitioned to a work from home environment, we knew that our content would need to shift as well.

So, we thought about what people were missing by working remotely and what we could do to bring them together. We developed work from home playlists, work from home tips, self-care advice, activities for families, financial guidance, and more. We also used the Facebook channel to promote socially distanced events, such as our drive-in movie series.

Encourage Employee Engagement

Once employees are engaged through posts like these, it’s easy for them to start contributing independently. Employee comments, likes and shares are the real meat of an employee Facebook group, drawing everyone together over collective experiences.

If you are wondering what kind of information might be contributed through a Facebook group, you’ll find that employees use them for a wide variety of useful purposes in addition to friendly communications, including:

• Congratulating colleagues on important milestones, such as a work anniversary or new position
• Planning and promoting company events
• Sharing constructive ideas for office or program improvements
• Asking questions about deadlines, tasks or office procedures

However, the Facebook employee group should primarily be a place for employees to reconnect, taking the place of the office hallways, lunchrooms and water coolers. If you find your company needs a more private space to discuss projects, work schedules and the like, consider setting up a Facebook Workplace group instead.

What is a Facebook Workplace Group?

While employee groups can be started or led by anyone within the organization, a Workplace group can only be created by those with administrator rights to the company’s Facebook page, or by an individual invited to act in that capacity. This means the group can be easily managed and monitored.

In the end, your choice will depend on your purpose in developing the group and how you want your employees to engage.

Either way, it’s important for the business to continue posting to the page on a regular basis. Overall, employees feel more connected with regular communications, whether through a weekly leadership update or daily interaction in the Facebook Group.

Want to learn more about how you can market your business? Check out more marketing insight articles.