How Facebook’s Workplace Tool Can Add Efficiency to Your Office

In October, Facebook launched Workplace, a new enterprise-grade collaboration tool meant to compete with industry champions like Slack. Workplace is designed to take advantage of Facebook’s interface while acting as an entirely separate product for businesses. Facility managers looking for an intuitive tool that can increase engagement across teams might benefit from implementing Facebook’s communication app. Here’s a look at how Workplace can help improve your organization.

Better team engagement

Many of the companies that first started using Workplace have noted that increasing team engagement was a key driver in their decision. Workplace can effectively improve this issue, thanks to the app’s usability and versatility. The tool uses Facebook’s well-known user interface to deliver file storage, news feeds, video conferencing, phone calls and individual chats. Workplace’s similarity to Facebook, coupled with a range of features, can make communicating much easier for employees. It can be especially beneficial for remote workers or companies with multiple locations.

Tip: Facility managers will need to set up clear boundaries as the tool can easily be used for personal messages instead of work-related posts.

A bird’s-eye view of office workflow

Managers and teams can gain meaningful insight into the workings of their company by tracking groups, organizing events and receiving real-time updates. This can be a major benefit for companies that are currently using e-mail as their primary form of internal communication. Facility managers can gain a sense of clarity through Workplace but they’ll need to pay special attention to how their business is structured to ensure that it’s reflected in the app itself.

Tip: Companies with specific hierarchies and reporting structures should clarify how information is passed within the app, either in a staff meeting or online documentation. Otherwise, inconsistent processes can cause confusion across teams.

Streamlined communication

Work collaboration can create an excessive amount of information, building up in long email threads or archived files. Workplace can help facility managers save time and energy by storing all this information in one place. This practice can signal a major change for facility managers who currently use separate applications for files, conferencing, project management and text-based communications.

Tip: It’s important to understand that Workplace is a completely separate application from Facebook. Data and profiles don’t transfer from one to the other, which means data ownership stays in the hands of the company.

Considerations for using Workplace

Workplace can provide an enticing offering for companies, but it may cause issues for some employees:

• Private, intensive work can be disrupted if workers feel obligated to post information constantly or respond to a host of notifications.
• Irrelevant social networking can be emphasized over project and business management, if not handled properly.
• Real-time communication can cause employees to feel pushed into making decisions on the fly rather than considering things through.

To reduce these risks, managers should meet with their teams to access current communication processes, and establish clear policies on how staff will use the app.

Facebook’s new enterprise offering can be a game changer for facility managers looking to centralize their information and bolster collaboration. By accounting for company structure and employees’ needs, managers can use the Workplace tool to help their office become more productive and efficient.

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