What Are 5 Ways To Communicate Effectively with Non-Desk Employees?
Employee communication is typically designed with at-desk employees in mind. But how can you best communicate with non-desk employees? After all, effective communication is necessary for both safety and efficiency. In this blog, we explore answers to this question with effective communication in the workplace examples geared toward non-desk employees.
What Is Effective Communication?
Effective communication is when ideas are exchanged clearly and efficiently. When communicating with employees, effective communication has three key components:
- Information: This is the content of each message. Effective communication contains information that is both clear and relevant to the receiving party. Transparency is important, but you also don’t want to bog down your team with information they can’t do anything with.
- Channel: This is the method of communication used to reach the receiver. Have you ever heard “it’s not what you said, it’s how you said it” before? The communication channel you choose is part of the “how you said it” and is a vital piece of effective communication. For example, relaying information to in-office employees through email or Slack can be a highly effective method. In contrast, non-desk employees use these channels far less, so it’s more effective to communicate through a texting-based platform.
- Call to Action: This is what you want the receiver to do with the information you provide them. Having a clear call to action makes it easy for your team members to complete the tasks you need them to. For example, when sending out onboarding documents to new hires, including steps and deadlines for submissions helps everyone stay on track.
Effective communication requires buy-in from everyone involved, but HR managers can set teams up for success by choosing channels that are a good fit for users and setting standards for how those channels are used. In addition to the key components of effective communication, being proactive, open, and transparent is crucial.
- Proactive communication means anticipating potential issues and addressing them before they become problems. This builds trust and demonstrates that you are attentive to your team’s needs.
- Open communication fosters an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns. It encourages dialogue and feedback, leading to a more collaborative and innovative workplace.
- Transparent communication ensures that all team members are on the same page. It eliminates confusion and aligns everyone with the organization’s goals. When employees understand the bigger picture and the rationale behind decisions, they are more likely to be engaged and committed.
Incorporating these elements into your communication strategy helps create a more cohesive, motivated, and productive team.
What Are the Benefits of Effective Employee Communication in the Workplace?
The key benefits of effective communication in any workplace are:
- Mitigating Interpersonal Conflicts
- Increasing Employee Engagement
- Improving Productivity and Operational Efficiency
- Supporting Positive Client Relations
- Fostering a Healthy Workplace Culture
- Increased Employee Satisfaction
For businesses that rely on non-desk employees to operate, effective communication is especially important for realizing the following benefits:
- Improving Workplace Safety
- Adapting To On-Site Changes
When employee communication breaks down, your non-desk team members can be left in the dark. Weather conditions can cause dangerous conditions and lost productivity, for example. The National Safety Council reports that a single medically consulted workplace injury costs businesses an average of $40,000. These costs are difficult to overcome, but they are often preventable through consistent and effective communication. See how Yourco is revolutionizing communication with non-desk employees.
What Are 5 Ways To Communicate Effectively?
5 ways to communicate effectively in the workplace include (in no particular order):
- Using communication methods that connect with your employees.
- Tailoring messages to specific recipients, so they receive information that’s relevant to their role.
- Enabling employees to receive and share files easily through standard communication channels.
- Keeping repeating announcements (such as weekly rosters, company-wide updates, etc.) on a standard schedule.
- Providing employees with an opportunity to deliver constructive feedback.
How do you know how well your current communication system is working? The characteristics of effective communication are:
- Your employees are receiving the information they need to be successful in their roles.
- Your employees take your desired call to action.
If either of these boxes are left unchecked, it’s time for a change. Yourco can help you connect better with non-desk employees by using a channel they’re already familiar with—texting. Learn more here.
What Are the Three Types of Barriers To Effective Employee Communication with Non-Desk Employees?
Non-desk employees operate in specific conditions that make traditional types of communication in the workplace less effective; these barriers to effective communication include:
- System Requirements: Apps—like Gmail and WhatsApp—require storage space and a strong cellular data connection to function. At many job sites, these apps simply won’t load to allow employees to send or receive updates.
- Privacy Concerns: Many apps collect and store personal data. When a work-related app is required on a personal device, employees may become concerned with what data the employer can track. In fact, over 70% of apps track personal data and report it to third-party companies.
- Personal Costs: Communication apps drain data plans, and unless your company provides employees with a phone plan, they have to take on the costs of communication. The average phone bill is already $141 per month, and employees shouldn’t have to pay more to participate in workplace communication.
Instead of communication apps or email, try texting your non-desk employees. Yourco makes texting your employees at-scale easy and effective. Contact our team to learn more.
How Do You Communicate Effectively in a Team of Non-Desk Employees?
The best way to improve communication with non-desk employees is to use a channel they’re comfortable with. For many non-desk employees, texting just makes sense as the default method of communication. Cell phones—even ones from the pre-smartphone era (which 10% of American adults still use)—come with the ability to text. Texting also functions with less cellular data than communications apps, so you can reach your team at remote job sites.
With Yourco, you can leverage text messaging to facilitate the following employee communication examples:
Yourco: Your Key To Connecting with Your Non-Desk Team Members
With Yourco, you can connect with non-desk employees through texting, which is a method they’ll actually use. In fact, 98% of texts are opened, and the average response time is 90 seconds. Compare that to email with a dismal open rate of just 20%. But that doesn’t mean you have to pull out your phone and manage dozens of individual text conversations.
Yourco is a platform that enables managers to facilitate and oversee communication from a single dashboard, while employees engage with communications as if they were having an ordinary texting conversation. Contact us for demo or try for free today!
