How Can HR Overcome The Challenges Of A Rushed Digital Transformation

5 ways to adapt employee communications to a post-pandemic workplace

There’s no doubt the pandemic has changed everything about the way we work. While some of us have transitioned to remote work—which comes with its own unique set of challenges—many others who are still working on-site are burdened with the stress of working with the public amid a global health crisis.

Now, as the world of work transitions to a new, hybrid model with employees working both remotely and on-site, all of this creates a serious challenge for HR when it comes to communicating with employees. Even as the move to digital platforms for remote work happened overnight, it wasn’t exactly a smooth and calculated transition. It was more like a panic switch. That means many companies simply had to go with what they already had in place: email, Slack, Zoom, etc., some of which had only been implemented recently or used occasionally. And for the past year-plus, they’ve been the de facto standard.

But as many companies have discovered, these aren’t viable long-term solutions for employee communication. First, they’re not inclusive. Not everyone has access to a device to check their email or Slack for important company messages. The hybrid model automatically creates two distinct and separate segments of the population, each with unique circumstances and needs. Not to mention, without a concerted effort to make them feel included, remote workers can feel alienated from the rest of the workforce, which makes engaging them difficult.

Second, there’s too much noise. Across the board, people are being overwhelmed with messages and information, on top of already feeling stressed, and many of them struggling with mental health issues. Companies should be making it easier, not harder, for their employees to get the information they need. Bombarding them with communication is not only detrimental to the employee experience but it also means your messages are more likely to get lost in all the noise.

So how can HR teams overcome these challenges of a rushed digital transformation? By implementing new digital communication strategies designed to work over the long haul. Building a communications center of excellence allows companies to create a streamlined, connected and optimized experience for everyone. Here’s how:
 

Recognize that not everyone has the same situation or experience and segment your communication by audience characteristics to help create a more relevant experience. Consider that those working from home face challenges with childcare that may have them working unconventional hours, or bandwidth issues that make it difficult for them to receive or view video materials.

Meanwhile, those who are on site may be struggling with working long hours, in addition to the childcare and bandwidth issues that prevent them from consuming information at home after a long shift. Managers have many different issues and concerns than their team, compounded by the stress of feeling responsible for their team’s well-being and success.

Segmenting your communications by the audience and tailoring the message, style, and timing of communications to each segment’s needs can help your message get through and resonate with the intended audience.
 

Because of the diversity of audiences and their situations, settling on just one of your existing channels will likely alienate some. Email isn’t always accessible for the nurse on the hospital floor, and workers on the loading dock don’t have access to Slack all day. Not to mention, some learn and internalize information in different ways—some are more visual learners for whom video works better, while others may prefer reading material.

For delivering an inclusive and effective experience, a purpose-built employee communications platform allows you to address the needs of every employee. With easy access on mobile or desktop devices and a variety of media options for presenting the information, a dedicated platform creates an inclusive experience that’s easy to manage.
 

Ad hoc communications can come off as disjointed and sporadic, lacking a cohesive voice and failing to reflect your company’s culture. The inconsistency can be confusing for employees.

Building a framework for employee communication, with parameters for planning, messaging, design, timing and delivery, allows you to be consistently flexible—to adapt and deploy messages quickly, like when circumstances demand changes to safe working guidance or policies and procedures must be adjusted. With a framework in place, you can create a cohesive and collective experience—even as the messages are tailored for each audience—and be intentional rather than reactive.
 

Creating a personalized experience for every employee might seem impossible, but you have an extremely powerful tool at your disposal: employee data. By tapping into personnel and payroll data, HR teams can tailor the content and target audiences based on their department, role, level within the organization, location or time zone, and whether they’re on-site, remote or hybrid.

This personalization can make for more relevant messages that resonate and a personalized experience at scale. On the other side of the equation, you can also leverage data about message engagement—how employees interact with content and change their behavior as a result—to optimize future communications. Are you seeing the desired KPIs change? If not, adapt your messages or delivery, rather than continue shouting into the wind.
 

Employee communication cannot just be “send only.” It must be a two-way street. First, you must solicit employee feedback at a very basic level, simply to make sure your messages are getting through. Second, asking for feedback sends the message to employees that you care about their needs and what’s best for them.

If it appears that you don’t understand—or worse, don’t care about—their needs or concerns, employees will ignore your messages and miss critical experiences. Gathering and responding to employee feedback allows you to demonstrate that you’re proactive about addressing their needs.

As HR professionals, creating an inclusive culture should be one of our top priorities. Employee communications is a critical component of creating an engaging, high-quality employee experience, which is much more challenging in the post-pandemic hybrid workplace.

Leveraging a purpose-built employee communications platform can give you the capability and tools to build a communications center of excellence, create a framework for consistent, effective, engaging communications and deliver the post-pandemic experience your employees expect.