When a technology company cut its consulting division by 8pc in 2009 during the global recession, individuals who had used the firm’s internal social media platform to chat about such things as coffee, lunch, dinner, baseball and football were less likely than their peers to be among those laid off, says Lynn Wu of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

In an analysis of the company’s enterprise social media, she found that after objective performance measures, the absence or prevalence of these kinds of words in consultants’ messages was the most significant predictor of layoffs. The reasons are unclear, but Wu says social communication with colleagues and superiors may provide an unseen value, indicating that a person is a good team player and that others enjoy working with him.

(Source: Information Systems Research)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, November 24th, 2014