Employee Alerts

Employee Alerts

It’s no secret that effective communication is critical to any successful organization. In fact, the number one skill companies look for when hiring is communication — things like body language, reading and writing, and interpersonal skills. But beyond just one person’s communication expertise, the ability to communicate clearly within an institution is incredibly important. This internal communication might include topics like:

• Schedule Changes
• Emergency Situations
• Meeting Times
• Office Memos
• Compliance Requirements
• Sales Pitches
• Marketing Collateral
• Open Enrollment Notices
• And So Much More

Since conveying information within and between departments is so important, you would think most companies have a successful communication strategy. The unfortunate reality, however, is that most organizations rely on suboptimal (and in some cases very ineffective) communication practices. According to Gallup, 74% of employees feel they miss out on important information.

The majority of companies prioritize emails as their primary form of communication with over 300 billion sent daily. While emails definitely have some value, most of them are never read. In fact, as few as 20% of emails are even opened. Plus, sending a separate email for every single issue or notice means that an employee’s inbox fills up quickly. Altogether, that means critical information might go unnoticed.

Best case scenario the unread email is just spam. Worst case scenarios however get a little more frightening and frustrating. Imagine an employee doesn’t see their schedule changes or worse, misses an emergency note about plant closures due to inclement weather. The communication breakdown with emails can cause some serious issues for employees and companies alike.

A lack of communication isn’t just caused by unread emails though. It is amplified by engagement and access issues, particularly among non-desk employees. Non-desk employees are on their feet working all day as opposed to sitting at a desk or in front of a computer. Fundamentally, this decreases their opportunities for communication in a digital workplace. They won’t see email alerts in a timely manner, if at all. Many don’t have company email addresses or computer access at all. So, if you can’t rely on emails to reach non-desk employees, what can you do? At Yourco, we believe the answer is SMS employee alerts. Not just regular person to person mobile messaging though, which can expose employees’ personal numbers or create a toxic work-life balance. Rather an SMS alert system that was designed specifically for employee communications. But we will get to all of that later. First, let’s talk about alerts.

What Are Alerts Used For?

Text alerts systems in business can be used for all sorts of notices and messages. The whole point of text alerts is to convey essential information to employees in a way that is convenient for them. Instead of relying on emails, text alerts send notifications straight to an employee’s phone.

Daily text alerts might serve as a reminder to follow certain protocols or as a form of communicating the plan for the day. For example, maybe a manager works with a rotating crew of people. A daily text alert to those on shift could outline who is part of the crew today and what role each person will fulfill. Additionally, since managers can send Yourco SMS alerts from a browser it might be easier to copy and paste or save a message template instead of having to retype it all on their phone.

What Are the Types of Alerts?

There are many different types of alerts. Some apply to multiple industries, while others might be geared more towards a specific profession. For the sake of this article, let’s break alert types into two broad categories of emergency and non-emergency alerts.

Emergency Alerts

An emergency alert is intended to inform employees of currently pending events that require immediate response. This can include things like workplace hazards, emergency weather statements, immediate health and safety concerns, or any other kind of emergency situation. Generally speaking, emergency alerts apply to every industry.

For example, emergency weather notices are relevant to many companies. Imagine there is an ice storm, flood, tornado, or any other severe weather event. Communicating it to everyone in the organization in a timely and efficient manner is mission critical. Timely communication can:

• Inform workers currently on-site to take shelter or cease operations
• Inform workers preparing for their commute to delay departure or cancel it altogether
• Allow employees to follow-up and communicate with any necessary third parties such as their children’s schools, carpools, or other family members

Another form of an emergency alert might include a fire in or near the workplace. Again, informing folks accurately and quickly can be the difference between life and death. Early communication can:

• Explain exactly where the fire is occurring so employees know which exit to head towards
• Provide employees adequate time to evacuate
• Ensure the appropriate authorities are contacted such as the fire department or police

So, how do you alert employees to an emergency situation? With a method they are most likely to acknowledge. For most employees this means through text messages. SMS texts can reach anyone anywhere, regardless of internet access. Of course, when it comes to emergency alerts, you can never be too safe. Therefore the best approach is to have a comprehensive emergency notification system that includes texting, PA announcements, emails and perhaps even more communication channels. Just keep in mind that although you are covering your bases with multiple forms of communication, the most likely to be read (and read quickly) is a text message.

Non-Emergency Alerts

Non-emergency alerts are messages that do not require immediate attention for health and safety purposes. A non-emergency alert can still have an element of time sensitivity to it, but will not have the same element of potential danger. Non-emergency alerts might include things like:

• Shift Changes
• Schedule Updates
• Special Notices
• Reminders
• Company events

Let’s look at a couple of these examples in more detail.

A schedule update is pretty important information for everyone. Shift managers need to know who is working and when. Employees need to know when and where to report, and who their managers are. Adjusting a schedule or even just sending out a new one is a big deal. If not communicated properly, the company and the employees both stand to suffer.

Employees that don’t show up to a shift because they didn’t know they were assigned to it might lose pay or even their job. From the business’s perspective, there is lost productivity, not to mention other issues that are associated with a lack of organization and communication. If employees feel like their company and superiors aren’t organized or communicating properly it can lead to a lack of respect, lower workplace morale, decreased efficiency, and ultimately higher workforce turnover.

Reminders and notices can be important for all sorts of reasons. They might include things like:

• The office is closed from 12-2 tomorrow for election day
• Open enrollment ends today
• On-site daycare will be closing for a month due to renovations
• Flu shots are available in the health center this week
• Don’t forget to submit your timesheet
• The taco truck will be here this afternoon from 1-3

The list of alerts is more or less endless and therefore can have a varying degree of time sensitivity or importance. Still though, any reminder or notice needs to be communicated effectively.

Take the daycare example from above. If employees rely on a company’s on-site child care and it closes without them knowing, that can cause some serious issues. Without effective employee text alerts and notifications, even if a manager or human resources representative sends an email, the odds of every single affected employee reading it is small.

Similarly, if an organization spends $3,000 dollars to bring in a food truck, but no one knows it’s coming or when it arrives, there is a good chance that money is essentially wasted. So even something as simple as a fun food truck to boost company morale or reward employees for an exceptional quarter needs to be communicated properly.

Plus, relying on text alerts can free up large chunks of time in the workplace compared to employee meetings or other forms of more cumbersome communication. They can also reduce the need for reworking or fixing things by getting them done right the first time. For example, instead of having to spend hours jumping through hoops, filing paperwork, and helping an employee register for benefits after open enrollment is over, they can just sign up once they see the notification on their phone.

How Do You Alert an Employee?

One way is with an SMS communication platform. There are very real pain points when it comes to trying to communicate in the workplace. Engaging everyone is difficult enough, let alone trying to communicate with everyone quickly. That’s why SMS communication platforms (like Yourco) simplified alerts and employee communication altogether with text alert systems for employees.

Instead of relying on emails, phone call centers, memos, or any other outdated form of communication, you can simply send a text message alert whenever you need to. Unlike emails, 98% of emergency text alerts are read. On top of that, 95% of those texts are read within 90 seconds, providing timely communication in potentially time-sensitive situations. Plus, let’s face it, just about everyone has a cell phone these days, including non-desk employees. That means that your information isn’t getting siloed and only received by the employees who have access to an email or computer.

There are plenty more reasons why employee alerts and messaging are becoming more popular in the workplace. Stick around as we break down the benefits of employee alert systems as well as some of the pros and cons of common messaging and alert platforms.

What are Employee Messaging Systems?

Employee messaging apps like Slack, Teams, GroupMe, and WhatsApp certainly have loads of features and make communicating easier than email. The thing is though, there are also some limitations to these messaging platforms. For example, as we’ve already mentioned, most of the popular services are apps. This is a big pain point for many, according to Forbes, 91% of people dislike the need to install an app in order to conduct business. Apps also limit the users to individuals with a smartphone. That means if your employees don’t have a smartphone, they can’t use the messaging platforms and therefore are missing out on critical information.

The drawbacks to mobile text alert apps don’t stop there however. Many messaging apps require users to create an account using their email address. As you can see, that doesn’t really help solve the communication problem with non-email employees. Additionally, if you find a messaging app that doesn’t use emails to sign people up, then they probably have to sign up with their personal phone number. Sharing personal phone numbers on a mobile app can open the door to all sorts of issues including a lack of privacy, a toxic working environment, and even potential harassment.

What’s more, while many messaging apps have the capacity for mass group communication, it is usually in the form of a group text or channel. While this can be a helpful feature, group messages have a tendency to pile up and get off topic in a hurry. If an employee misses a conversation and comes back to 20+ messages, there is a chance they won’t see the important information that started the conversation. Alternatively you might even get employees who turn off their notifications or spend too much time sifting through messages when they could be working instead.

It is worth noting however that an alert or notification platform and a messaging platform are not exactly the same. Let’s break down some of the key differences.

What Is an Employee Notification System?

An employee notification system is a software platform designed to send employees alerts and notifications. Ideally, an employee notification system helps you communicate with employees through the most direct lines of communication. For many people, that is text messaging.

What Are the Types of Notification Systems?

The three types of notification systems are emergency, mass, and targeted alerts. Aside from just alert type or delivery method (email vs text), another way to distinguish alert systems is to consider who is receiving the notifications. Emergency alerts are generally sent to all employees, and potentially even customers or anyone who has signed up for emergency alerts like family members of employees. Mass notifications and alerts are sent to everyone in a company, whereas targeted alerts are sent to certain segments or groups of people like alerting one shift or location.

What Is the Purpose of an Emergency Notification System?

The goal of an emergency notification system is to alert all necessary parties of an emergency situation. This can include employees, customers, authorities, family members and other personnel who might be affected by the emergency situation. Emergency notifications can include protocols, recommendations, alerts, and more specific information.

What Is the Purpose of a Mass Notification System?

A mass notification system is helpful for getting information to everyone in a company all at the same time. This is particularly useful for emergency alerts as well as for alerts that will impact everyone. Non-emergency mass alerts often include other company-wide initiatives or notices.

What Is the Purpose of a Targeted Notification System?

Targeted notification systems allow users to send specific alerts and notifications to specific audiences. For example, if a user wants to send a message to the first shift, but not the second shift, they can use targeted alerts to only communicate with their first shift employees. In fact, with targeted alerts, users can even narrow down their audience to one other person if they so desire.

What Is the Notification System Designed by Yourco?

Yourco offers features like mass communication with individualized responses. That means human resources or a manager can send a message to all their employees, and instead of creating a group text, employees can respond in a one-on-one conversation. Not only does this protect from the productivity difficulties of group messages, it also enhances security and comfort by allowing employees to have a private conversation without everyone in the group seeing their messages. This can come in handy for all sorts of reasons, not least of which is reporting an issue with other employees.

Our notification system is also a specific kind of messaging platform that is designed for all audiences and all alert types, with a special emphasis on non-desk communication. Where other messaging platforms might require apps or the internet, Yourco’s sends SMS messages to employees. As an SMS alert system, Yourco enables every employee, regardless of internet or email access, the chance to engage in two-way communication in a timely and effective manner.

Additionally, from an administrative perspective, using Yourco’s SMS text alert system for business allows you to monitor and review any and all messages sent. This can help when going over any disputes, as well as just conducting a communication audit to ensure that all internal communication is following the right protocols. Instead of your employees wondering “what was the emergency alert today?” they can simply go back through the alert history and find it (not that you’d need to since 98% of text alerts are seen the first time around anyways).

Yourco: Making Your Communication Easy and Effective

At Yourco, we are in the business of making employee alerts and communication easy and effective. A lot of times, we get questions like:

• Which is the best notification system during a disaster?
• How do I set up text alerts for my business?
• What is a good emergency notification system today?

The answer to these questions and more like them is simply – Yourco employee alerts. Our platform takes all the good parts of texting, ditches the drawbacks of messaging apps and email, and sprinkles in additional deliberate and thoughtful features to provide a truly best-in-class service and experience.

To recap, some of the specific reasons our employee alert platform is ideal include:

• No app to download and our platform uses SMS messages. That means anyone with a cell phone can use our platform since you don’t need a smartphone, data plan, or a company email.
• As an administrator, you can simply upload an entire employee database to easily send out individual or mass alerts. Plus, no matter what, they always appear as one-on-one conversations.
• There are no group chats to manage. That means no off-topic text threads, sharing of personal numbers, or any of the other downsides of group messaging.
• Yourco is designed from the ground up to be a two-way communication platform, not some marketing tool. That means employees can send messages just as easily as they can receive them.
• Yourco tracks every message, from every conversation, even after employees have left the company. So whether it’s to settle disputes over scheduling or to empower knowledge transfer after someone moves on, with our advanced search feature, you can easily go back and find any information you need.
• We are the only SMS platform that can offer security and convenience when it comes to sending big files. With our “Files” feature, customers are able to upload files, automatically generate URLs, and then send them as "public-access files" or "secure files". The secure files are PIN-protected for the specific employee's cell phone that it is sent to through Yourco.

So, whether it’s emergency alerts, scheduling updates, or just food truck Friday, Yourco has you covered for all of your employee alert needs. To learn more about our solutions, head over to our website to contact us. To get started on your own, try for free today!