With the proliferation of social networking in recent years, employees have a global forum for telling job candidates exactly what they can expect by working for a particular company. Social media has become an important platform for job seekers to receive referrals from friends about open positions. These personal referrals are often accompanied by opinions about the company and its employer brand, including how interesting or challenging the work is, how flexible their work schedule is, and what options are available for telecommuting.

According to the Kelly Global Workforce Index (KGWI), some 22% of workers are likely to recommend their employer to a friend or colleague as an employment opportunity, and 65% of workers are interested in receiving job referrals from friends in their social media network. Nearly one-fifth of full-time Professional/Technical workers secured a new job opportunity that originated via a social media or networking site.

A positive company culture can present an attractive employer brand to a world of job seekers, but a negative company culture can destroy a company from within.

In fact, that was one of the cited factors that contributed to Yahoo! ending remote working options. The company was struggling in the face of online competition from nimble rivals, and motivation and morale were decreasing. This change to remote work policies is a response designed to foster innovation, reinvigorate morale, and revitalize the company culture by bringing the workforce back into the office. The CEO is expecting the resulting positive energy to work its way outward to the brand that Yahoo! portrays as an employer.

The new remote work policy is the first unpopular decision Mayer has made since taking over. Workers have applauded other changes, such as introducing free cafeteria food and having Friday idea-swapping meetings for all employees. The boost to Yahoo!’s employer brand was evidenced by the arrival of resumes from employees at Google and Facebook, which rarely happened in the past. A recent internal survey of employees found that nearly all are optimistic about Yahoo!’s future, an increase of 32% from the previous survey. But it remains to be seen whether this optimism will translate to employees being happy in spite of their remote work arrangements ending.

Employees who have the flexibility to work at home at least part of the time are more satisfied with their jobs and more fulfilled in their personal lives, and in today’s fast- paced business arena, work/life balance is more important than ever. The KGWI survey showed that work/life balance was the most important factor for 38% of all workers in deciding whether or not to accept a position.

Workers who are offered a job can afford to consider information they have picked up from social media about what type of employer a company is, and how the job will affect their ability to balance their jobs with the demands of their lives. For many reasons, remote work is a big part of that. So, in the social job-seeking world, news travels very, very fast indeed.