Should prospective employees be judged by the size of their networks?
.
…this isn’t just in the interest of having a fun and friendly workplace (though that is an important bonus). Each one of these social connections pays dividends. At IBM, for example, when MIT researchers spent an entire year following 2,600 employees, observing their social ties, even using mathematical formulas to analyze the size and scope of their address books and buddy lists, they found that the more socially connected the IBM employees were, the better they performed. They could even quantify the difference: On average, every e-mail contact was worth an added $948 in revenue. There in and white is the power of social investment. And IBM wisely decided to capitalize on it by starting a program at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, office to facilitate the introductions of employees who didn’t yet know one another.
Join 25K+ readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.
Related posts:
What’s the best way to network?
5 things you didn’t know about Facebook
Is it worth reconnecting with old acquaintances on Facebook and Linked In?
