Ken Burgin

Is Facebook Workplace the Employee Intranet That Restaurants Need?

Facebook Workplace looks like a simple, inexpensive way to improve internal communication in your cafe, bar or restaurant. It has that very familiar interface – who doesn’t understand likes, photo posting, events and the newsfeed, and it runs out of a separate app. You don’t use your personal Facebook profile to sign-in, that’s done with a new company-based identity.

Here’s the official Facebook explainer and of course there’s a ton of helpful information on the Facebook Workplace site.

I recently heard a very enthusiastic endorsement of the product by the General Manager of Club Med ANZ – you can hear her talk about it on the Tourism Upgrade podcast, and also in this video.

Update: another interesting article on a company’s experience with Workplace over 6 months.

Issues to consider, for and against:

  • Familiar look & feel means posting is more likely – one of the biggest drawbacks with non-standard intranet sites is that they are ignored.
  • Low cost – USD $3 p.p. per month, with a free version that’s ad-supported. That’s a lot or a little according to the value you place on this type of communication.
  • Does not have the other features needed in a full-featured employee site eg document storage, policy explanations, communication options. That would still be needed.
  • You’re using ‘rented land’ instead of your own site – Facebook has a habit of making changes to all it’s properties, and you get no say in it.
  • Private discussion groups can be set up for selected members , if needed.

Definitely worth exploring – maybe with a small group of employees who would give honest feedback and champion it if you went ahead…

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