Although Canada’s major banks still cringe at the thought of their financial advisors and employees logging onto social media websites for business purposes, many banks have launched internal social media websites that allow employees to interact with each other.

“When you look at how people communicate outside of work, it is all about being able to have dialogue with others and sharing your point of view,” says Wendy Arnott, vice president, social media, with Toronto-based Toronto-Dominion Bank. “We want to try to bring all that inside the organization, so people feel that when they come to work, they have all the tools that they are used to having outside of work.”

TD is one of the front-runners when it comes to internal social media websites. The bank opened its doors to employee comments on its intranet website three years ago; today, every staff member has the ability to provide feedback on company articles, news stories and best practices, as well as participate in quick surveys.

Employees can log on straight from their home pages and provide comments along with their names and locations. For many users, being identified does not hinder them when it comes to sharing their true feelings.

“Hearing ways to improve something is one of the best reasons for having a platform like this,” says Arnott. “People definitely want to share their ideas. And if they are not happy with something, then that gives us an opportunity to have that dialogue with them.”

Employees at all levels are accessing the intranet website — from branch-level employees right on up to the CEO, says Arnott. TD can track the number of employees accessing the website, which information is read most and review which articles draw other levels of interest.

One of the most popular areas on TD’s intranet is “WOW Moments,” a page on which employees can post their personal experiences and provide tips to their colleagues. The site sees significant traffic, and 300 to 500 stories are uploaded daily.

A major concern with social media in the financial services industry is regulation — and the compliance issues that come along with that. To date, the majority of Canadian financial advi-sors and bank employees are not allowed to interact with clients through social media platforms. However, at the internal level, that concern is not at the fore.

TD does still monitor the content that is posted on its intranet. Arnott says there are only a few reasons a comment wouldn’t be approved — mainly to do with profanity.@page_break@Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia, for its part, conducts random monitoring on its internal social media platform, which is conducted by its information-technology department.

Scotiabank has eased into the internal social media space, with a pilot project it launched 18 months ago. The online tool enables employees to communicate with each other, develop communities and set up meetings with a global reach.

Says Ann DeRabbie, Scotia-bank’s director of media communications: “When you are looking at an organization that is in more than 50 countries, you can see the potential for an application such as this. It really is a phenomenal initiative.”

Already, 2,000 Scotiabank employees have signed up for the pilot. The bank will officially be launching the online tool next year, with several rollout phases. Upon completion of the pilot, employees will be able to: establish groups and invite others to join; be part of public or private groups; comment publicly; and set up private communities with access only by invitation.

The online tool is a more efficient way to communicate with colleagues, especially for those involved in company committees, DeRabbie says: “We don’t need to worry about finding time in everyone’s schedule or about meeting space. Each committee can have its own online community in which we post documents. And, as we go forward with initiatives, we [will be able to] post content, comment on each other’s ideas, as well as revise and edit.”

Meanwhile, Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada doesn’t allow any posts that violate its code of conduct to go live on its internal website.

Like Scotiabank, RBC also launched its social media intranet site 18 months ago as part of a broader employee communications initiative. Says Alexandra Jacobs, global head of employee communications at RBC: “We wanted to create an arena that would bring about participation among employees. And we have used content and stories that will bring employees to come and interact based on their interests.”

RBC’s website is similar to TD’s and Scotiabank’s. However, unlike at the other two banks, RBC employees have the option to remain anonymous if they wish.

RBC’s site has a feature through which videos on events or individuals can be uploaded. Eventually, RBC would like to expand this element so that employees could upload their own videos.

“This is now a key component of our platform,” says Jacobs, “because there is such a huge appetite for this. Just being able to read content is no longer enough.” IE