How Do You Alert an Employee?

At work, there are a variety of things employers and employees need to communicate about. Employee alerts and notifications need to be easy for workers to get and read in a timely manner so important information isn’t missed. For desk workers, email or various app-based messaging systems work well since these employees are often sitting at a computer and checking their email frequently. But for non-desk workers—like people in construction, manufacturing, warehousing, or otherwise out in the field—these types of systems don’t work well.

So what’s the best way to alert non-desk employees and share necessary information? SMS text messaging can be a great option because it’s accessible to everyone and doesn’t require an internet connection, a smartphone, or downloading a special app. In this blog we’ll explore why alerts are important, what notification system types are out there, and how different use cases benefit from SMS alerts.

What Is the Purpose of a Notification System?

The reason an alert notification system matters for business is that it’s necessary for critical communication to happen. Employers need to be able to communicate:

• Emergency alerts for workplace safety
• Which job site an employee should come to
• Snow days or other weather-related work changes
• Schedule changes
• Benefit enrollment periods
• Planned social events, like a company picnic

Employees need to be able to communicate:

• Vacation day requests
• Questions about their schedule
• Problems with coworkers
• Sick days

What Are the Types of Notification System?

There are a variety of ways employers notify their workers of relevant work happenings, and employees share important information. Some of these system types include:

• Emergency Alerts – How do you alert employees to an emergency? Things like fire, tornado, and carbon monoxide alarms installed at the workplace work well to alert personnel to immediate dangers. For workers in the field, a text-based emergency notification system for business is likely the best option.
• Email – For employees that have a company email address and work at a computer the majority of the time, email can work well as a way to notify employees. Email communication doesn’t work well for non-desk workers because they typically are not given a company email address, and do not have unlimited data plans. Moreover, they often lack wifi connection to easily access emails in the field.
• App or Computer Based Messaging – Microsoft Teams and Slack are popular ways to communicate at work, but again are most effective for workers who have unlimited data plans, internet connection, company emails, and smartphones.
• SMS Text Messaging – Text messages are read at a much higher rate rate than emails, and can be a great option for employee alerts. These notifications can be easily received by employees in the field via SMS text messages even if they aren’t in an area with good internet connection, do not have a smartphone, or do not have an unlimited data plan. Desk employees can also benefit from text alerts, especially at times they are not checking work emails.

What Are Some Mass Notification System Examples?

Now we’ve covered the basics of what kinds of information sharing is needed at work, and a few options for how it can be shared. Let’s look at some specific examples of how mass notification systems can work for non-desk employees, and some potential issues that could occur with traditional group text messaging:

Construction

Unexpected bad weather meant that a construction foreman needed to change plans about which project his team would work on for the day. He sent a group text to his ten-person team letting them know the address and start time of their job. Five of the team members replied to let him know they had received the message. But this meant everyone’s phone received multiple messages close together, which was distracting and irritating. Several of the team started ignoring notifications for this group text and missed a later update.

Being able to send a text to multiple people at the same time, but without it showing up as a group text or anyone else getting the replies, would improve this system.

Manufacturing

The manager of a large group of assembly line workers sent a group text letting everyone know about a mandatory training session coming up. A new worker was really uncomfortable about all of her coworkers now having her personal cell phone number.

Sending a mass message to a group, but having each person receive it as a private text would have eliminated this problem.

Yourco: The Best Employee Notification System for Your Non-Desk Employees

Yourco knows how important getting alerts to your non-desk employees is. That’s why we developed our SMS text-based platform, designed specifically to solve the problems other systems can’t. With Yourco, there’s nothing for your employees to download or install. All they see is a regular text message that they can reply to as needed. Moreover, if you send out a mass text message, it does not create a group on the employee’s side of things. It just looks like an individual text message from your company number.

The managers with access to the platform can send alerts and notifications to large groups or individuals quickly and easily, while keeping their workers’ private information secure. Yourco also saves full messaging history for easy reference in case of disputes or misunderstandings. Contact us or try for free today to improve your business communication tomorrow!