Using SMS For Internal Communication During Uncertain Times
Helping HR professionals streamline their communication
Posted on 06-16-2020, Read Time: Min
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The current environment has put a strain on businesses, but despite the current state of affairs, company leaders still need to find effective ways to communicate with key external and internal stakeholders. Like marketers communicating with prospective consumers, it’s critical that HR professionals have a consistent and effective way to reach employees and prospective candidates, if hiring. Now, under our shared new circumstances, it’s more important than ever to reinforce the health and well-being of your employees without losing organizational integrity and company culture. How? By streamlining communication through SMS text messaging.
According to Morgan Stanley, 91 percent of Americans keep their mobile devices within arm's length at all times, meaning there’s no better way to reach the entirety of your staff faster. Our own reporting has found a 98 percent engagement rate with 90 percent of texts being read within 30 minutes of being delivered.
So it’s no surprise that texting has become one of the most efficient and effective forms of one-to-one communication, for both internal and external business purposes. Certainly, when most people think of business texting they’re most likely to think of text marketing, but text is a versatile tool and also offers a streamlined, one-to-one communication channel.
Restaurants can keep employees up to date on health precautions, re-openings, and improve last-minute scheduling difficulties during this take-out- and drive-through-only period. Enterprise HR departments can easily communicate new company-wide initiatives or office closures. HR professionals can leverage this easy and engaging tool to notify employees instantly to shift changes, alterations or updates to operational hours or procedures, weather alerts, and more.
Here are just four of the most popular ways text helps HR professionals streamline their communication:
- Employee Communication: Having a response rate six times higher than email, there’s never been a more effective communication tool than texting. Employees can also opt-in via a special Keyword you create to receive targeted information and updates.
- Meeting Reminders: Throughout the workweek, it can be difficult to keep on top of schedules, especially nowadays with increased Zoom calls and virtual meetings. SMS mass texts can be used to send meeting reminders – especially good for important gatherings – ensuring everyone is where they need to be, when they need to be there.
- Recruiting: Despite the uncertainty, some companies are still hiring and trying to keep in touch with potential employees. Texting can be used to promote new openings, provide updates to candidates going through the interview process, and offers an efficient way to coordinate interview times and send reminders. It’s an effective way to keep in touch with candidates throughout the hiring process, and find qualified new ones, which is why more than 60 percent of recruiters already use SMS.
- Employee Recognition: While everyone is working from home, it can be difficult to continue to instil company culture and promote team bonding. Sending out a text announcing an employee’s promotion, daily “get to know you” questions, or even a fun, company-wide survey can lift spirits.
Uncertainty brings a lot of anxiety and helpful, uplifting internal communications can be integral to reaching everyone, no matter where they are. Leadership should be in constant communication with employees, speaking in a clear, unified voice to avoid confusion and stress. Also, alerting internal staff first to any changes is of the utmost importance. In fact, whenever there are any scheduling, work environment, or workflow changes it is critical for your employees to see or respond to, text offers the fastest and most thorough solution.
Author Bio
| Matt Reid currently oversees global marketing for EZ Texting with more than 20 years of marketing, strategy, and management experience at various technology companies. Prior to EZ Texting, Reid served as vice president of marketing for Velocify, a market-leading SaaS provider of sales automation technology acquired by Ellie Mae in late 2017. He also led marketing for adtech company OpenX and built the sales and marketing teams for Eucalyptus Systems, an open-source platform acquired by HP. Reid also led product marketing for all SaaS technologies at Citrix, directing the initial market launches of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. Visit www.eztexting.com Connect Matt Reid |
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