Cafe Classic: Are Reward Pros Less #Social?

Editor's Note: Just over 5 years ago, I jumped into a Twitter conversation with Gautam Ghosh (@GautamGhosh), Ruchi (@rucsb) and Rajesh Kamath (@RajeshMTHRG), among others, about the relative absence (or at least silence) of reward professionals on that and many other social media platforms. Has that changed? What do YOU think?

Why are so few Rewards and Compensation experts on Social Media?  This is the question that prompted an interesting conversation and a number of hypotheses recently on Twitter.

I'll admit I've pondered this question myself.  Why are we so under-represented in the digital realm?  Consider, as evidence, the most recent (as of 2014) Top 25 Digital Trendspotters in HR list, the latest of many such efforts published by the HR Examiner, which taps into a "new breed of influence assessment engines" to track and measure the blogging, tweets, Facebook activity and other social media actions across the HR industry.  The list attempts to identify those who top the profession in spreading ideas and influencing the direction of online conversation.  Not one compensation or benefits pro in the mix.  Closest thing would be Paul Hebert (#19) who, although he knows more about motivation and incentives than most of us in compensation field, probably doesn't consider himself a rewards pro per se.

What up with this?  Exchanges on Twitter, with a few colleagues and a couple of my Cafe cohorts have produced a number of theories.  Here are a few of them.

Reward pros are inherently less social.

The stereotypical profile of the introverted reward professional, while it has its exceptions, carries a lot of truth.  There's a reason that most of us have steered clear of recruiting and employee relations, and gravitated toward the more analytical realm.  Perhaps this tendency also plays out in our attitude toward social media.

The confidential nature of rewards makes us more cautious about sharing online.

Not sure I buy this one as legitimate, but am open to being convinced.  Certainly any HR pro operates in a realm where confidences must be protected; the trick is expressing ideas and opinions without revealing inappropriately.  It may be that we, in rewards, are simply less comfortable navigating this delicate balance.

Reward pros are more serious.

There is a school of thought, shared particularly by reward pros, that we take our work (more) seriously and therefore can't be bothered with the frivolous, time-wasting chitchat that goes on in social media. 

Reward pros are primarily social consumers, making them less visible.

It is also possible that we are, in fact, active out there in the social interwebs but as lurkers -- consuming content but not creating, curating (liking, sharing, retweeting) or commenting on it.  If true, then we are out there absorbing the ideas and the exchanges but not influencing or spreading them ourselves.

Reward pros don't have a social job.

Unlike recruiters and others in HR, our job responsibilities do not typically require us to engage with the outside world and proactively market or strengthen the employment brand of our organizations.  Personally, I think this is the number one reason for our relative absence from social media.  Our jobs have not demanded that we do so, while many of our HR compatriots have been driven to the social space out of necessity.

So what?  If we are indeed behind the curve in social media, does it matter?

I worry that it may.  While there is certainly an enormous amount of unserious, intellectually vacant blabber out there, part of the challenge is getting clear on what you want to accomplish and developing a smart and time-efficient strategy for tapping into the social sphere to get it done.  You don't have to engage with and follow every twit out there.

My own experience -- and I try hard to be a careful, time-limited user -- suggests that there are pockets where the leading edge of HR practice is being debated.  Where people are sharing fascinating forward-thinking ideas and lessons with one another.  And I hate to see us missing from that conversation.

Reactions, thoughts and your experiences, dear readers?

Ann Bares is the Founder and Editor of Compensation Café,  Author of Compensation Force and Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group LLC, where she provides compensation consulting and survey administration services to a wide range of client organizations.  She earned her M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School and enjoys reading in her spare time. Follow her on Twitter at @annbares.

Creative Commons image "Social Media apps" by Jason A. Howie

Comments

[E. James (jim) Brennan]

Methinks you overgeneralize here, Ann, offering barely plausible excuses for why reward pros don't preen, rant, babble and mutter as is the norm on "social media" sites.

Most of us (forgive the conceit, please) are normal people, perhaps even a bit more well-adjusted then others. We DO however tend to be detail-conscious, fact-driven, open to constantly changing circumstances, and thus sensitive to the continual need to adapt "solutions" for various values of "optimal" per the relevant operating environment. That makes us usually far more motivated to BE right than to persuade others of the veracity of our conclusions.

Precise thinkers tend to be rather poor conversationalists. Media influencers thrive in arenas where being amusing, interesting and outrageous is more important than being objectively correct. That's boring.

Of course, just now I tried to avoid how much a highly social but frequently (when appropriate) recklessly silly and contumacious TR person like me still fits the boring pattern. For example, I carefully refused to quibble over exactly what "social media" means and what it is or isn't. I always thought this here CompensationCafe was some kind of social media, but who is to say?

Knowing and keeping lots of secrets does not necessarily make one secretive in open social venues.

And how can Total Rewards be considered "not a social job"? Dealing with management and general employee populations really does require at least minimal social skills like tact and diplomacy, not to mention the basic communications skills for clear written statements and verbal statements. People get very unsocial when someone messes with their employment income or disrupts their personal Total Reward Proposition (why they work here).

Naw... I suspect "we" just see so much dang ignorance about human behavioral economics and performance reinforcement techniques that we save our energy for persuading the C-suite or other Top Execs who sit at the Big Table. That leaves no time to chit-chat with random outsiders who merely inherit the final product we attempt to improve.

[Shalini K]

I truly enjoyed your blog, Ann. With a background in psychology and experience in recruitment and HR, I am currently working as Compensation professional. I completely agree with your analysis. Indeed personality and professions we choose are closely related.

For the individual who commented earlier, I would recommend reading the book, Quiet by Susan Cain.

I don't think your blog overgeneralizes on the personality aspect that you may find as a common factor amongst other TR professionals. Not being out there on social media platform is not an indicator of being normal or abnormal, it's simply a personality trait. I think TR professionals would tend to connect more in person, for deep and actual conversations that intrigues their interest, versus just be "out there".

At the end of the day, I think would be interesting to study personality and professions.

Thank you for the insightful article.

[Ann Bares]

Hi Jim,

Great observations and comments - thanks for sharing them here.

Shalini,

I appreciate your thoughts and perspective. As a proud introvert, I am a big fan of Susan Cain's Quiet and have written about it here at least once (will have to dig that out and make it a Classic too, perhaps!).

Yes - wouldn't it be interesting to study personality and professions? While I think there are exceptions to every rule (I know several rewards pros who are very extroverted), I think the patterns would be illuminating.