Ken Rhie, CEO of Trumpia
If you are like most companies, then you are beginning to notice a trend of unopened emails. Emails are only opened around 20% of the time, and to improve communications in your HR department, something has to change. With an open rate of 98%, text messages are the way to communicate with efficiency. Employees receive text messages, and most read them within a few minutes. When you are trying to improve the communication between HR and the employees served, text messaging is the key.
Text Messages Should be Clear and Direct
Any text message your HR department sends out to employees should be clear and direct. If it is a text about an upcoming training, the date, place and time should be easy to read. In addition, if the content requires more details, a link for your employees to follow for further information will be necessary. When your messages are clear, your employees aren’t going to be confused. Employees will not be able to say they were not informed about a training if a text message is sent and opened.
Don’t Waste the Time of Your HR Department
If schedule changes are frequent in your company, use SMS to make staff scheduling easier. Your HR department won’t have to waste time calling all employees trying to fill in a shift, and employees who want overtime will have access to open shifts through their mobile devices. This saves everyone time and makes it simple to keep all shifts running well within your company.
Only Send Relevant Texts to Employees
Just because a HR department can send text messages out to employees, doesn’t mean they always should. Text messages should always be relevant, or they are going to start getting ignored by employees. Relevant text messages include changes to a training, emergency notifications about a closing, or to share information about a new benefit plan. Texts should be sent as necessary and contain useful information for recipients.
Connect with Employees
Messages from your company to employees provide the opportunity for you to connect on a different level. SMS is one of the fastest ways to share industry news, ask for feedback, and educate your employees. You can use texting to share news about an employee of the month, or to ask for feedback after a busy open enrollment period. When you open up this two-way communication with employees, you will find that more employees actively engage with your company.
Share Ideas through Text Messaging
When you want to increase employee collaboration, you can share ideas through text messaging. Group texts can be set up, and each member of the group can be asked to contribute their ideas on a project. This will create an open atmosphere among your employees and encourage those who may not speak up in meetings to share.
Reminders or Notices Can be Sent Fast
When a mandatory training is coming up, a quick text can remind everyone about the upcoming training. If there is a security risk in the building, HR can send a text to everyone about the risk. No matter what is going on, you can reach all of your employees within minutes when you use texting as part of your communication strategy.
Human resources can improve communication with employees by using text messaging to gather information, share benefit details, or ask questions. It is a technology that reaches employees within minutes, no matter where they are. For efficient communication within your company, text messaging is the solution.
About the author
Ken Rhie is the CEO of Trumpia, which earned a reputation as the most complete SMS solution including user-friendly user interface and API for mobile engagement, Smart Targeting, advanced automation, enterprise, and cross-channel features for both mass texting and landline texting use cases. Mr. Rhie holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He has over 30 years of experience in the software, internet, and mobile communications industries.