Social Media an Increasingly Important Tool in Keeping Employees Engaged During Tough Economic Times, Survey Finds

SAN FRANCISCO & NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Employers faced with reduced communication budgets and resources are turning to
social media to keep their workforce engaged, according to a survey released
today.

In its "Employee Engagement Survey," the International Association of Business
Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation teamed with Buck Consultants, an ACS
company, to determine how organizations are communicating with employees to keep
them engaged and productive. The survey includes responses from nearly 1,500
participants representing a broad industry and geographic base. The survey
results are being released today at the annual IABC World Conference in San
Francisco.

"Communicating for optimal employee engagement is always a timely topic, but
even more so during challenging economic times," said Robin McCasland, a
director in Buck Consultants` communication practice and 2009-2010 chair of IABC
Research Foundation. "Our results represent opportunities for communicators to
have greater influence in delivering messages that encourage employees to remain
productive, and to understand how their work contributes toward achieving
business priorities."

Almost four-fifths (79 percent) of the respondents report that they use social
media frequently to engage employees and foster productivity, outranking even
email (75 percent). Company blogs are the most popular social media tool
currently in use (47 percent), with discussion boards ranking the highest for
future planned use (33 percent).

"It`s encouraging to see the rising popularity of social media in employee
communication," said Julie Freeman, ABC, APR, president of IABC. "Companies are
moving away from the one-way communication model where they would send out
information hoping people would read it. Using the various social media tools,
companies can now engage employees in discussions and foster conversations
between teams across geographic and other boundaries."

Current use of social networking sites such as Twitter (21 percent), Yammer (20
percent), and Facebook (18 percent) is significant, but organizations are
planning to use those tools even more in the future.

Other key survey findings include:

* More than half of the respondents (52 percent) report their communication
budgets have decreased and 35 percent report their communication staff has been
reduced over the past 12 months
* The most common reasons cited for communication budget and staff cuts are: the
economic downturn (46 percent) and organizational mandates (42 percent)
* Forty-eight percent report their employee communication strategy has stayed
the same despite the economic downturn
* The frequency of ongoing employee listening reflected an "all or nothing"
approach, with 62 percent of respondents who regularly engage in employee
listening activities such as surveys and focus groups, and 30 percent who rarely
or never engage in these methods
* Fifty-six percent of top executives are not using social media at this time,
and nearly half (46 percent) of organizations are not measuring social media`s
effectiveness
* Almost six in 10 respondents (59 percent) think their company has a
well-established internal or employer brand

About Buck

Buck Consultants, an ACS company, is a leader in human resource and benefits
consulting with more than 1,500 professionals worldwide. Founded in 1916 to
advise clients in establishing and funding some of the nation`s first public and
private retirement programs, Buck is an innovator in the areas of retirement
benefits, health and welfare programs, human capital management, compensation,
and employee communication. News and other information about Buck Consultants
are available at www.buckconsultants.com. Buck is an independent subsidiary of
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.

ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with approximately 74,000 people supporting
client operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process
outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial and
government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." Learn more about ACS at www.acs-inc.com.

About IABC

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a global
network of communication professionals committed to improving organizational
effectiveness through strategic communication. Established in 1970, IABC serves
more than 16,000 members in 80 countries and 100 chapters. For more information,
visit www.iabc.com.

Founded in 1982, IABC Research Foundation serves as the research and development
arm of the International Association of Business Communicators. The Foundation
supports and advances the practice of organizational communication by providing
IABC members with research that bridges the divide between communication theory
and practice by offering in-depth knowledge and tools that improve
organizational communication performance and strengthen the communication
profession as a whole. For more information, visit www.iabc.com/rf.

The 2009 "Employee Engagement Survey" report is available to the media by
contacting Ed Gadowski at 201-902-2825. It is available to other interested
parties at no cost from Buck`s Global Survey Resources, 500 Plaza Drive,
Secaucus, NJ, 07096-1533. Telephone 1-800-887-0509. It is also available online
at www.bucksurveys.com or www.iabc.com/rf.

Buck Consultants, LLC
Ed Gadowski, 201-902-2825
Manager, Media Relations
edward.gadowski@buckconsultants.com
or
IABC
Archana Verma, 415-544-4722
425-518-9184 (cell)
Director of Marketing and Communication
averma@iabc.com
or
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
Carol DeMatteo, 214-841-8110
Director, Corporate Communications
carol.dematteo@acs-inc.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009