This report examines the extent to which employers are making use of social media to promote and access employee voice. The use of social media has grown exponentially in the last decade and currently, around one in two employers makes use of a social media tool. 

Amongst the various social media tools, enterprise social networks are potentially a very powerful tool for employee voice and innovation. The types of enterprise social networks described in this report can potentially help to promote a richer employee voice, allowing organisations to go beyond monologue and one-way communication to two-way and multi-directional communication.

In this case study, we look at Southeastern, who were at the forefront of adopting social media internally to promote employee voice. Southeastern uses 'Socialtext' - an enterprise social network, which they branded as 'WorkMate' to allow employees working across hundreds of stations, offices and depots spread across London and the south east to release their voice.