How to Transform Internal Communication for the Deskless Generation

Transcription

1 How to Transform Internal Communication for the Deskless Generation

2 When you look at today s workforce, you see an increasing amount of deskless employees, especially in industries like retail, hospitality, healthcare, medicine, and field service. And more and more, that workforce consists of Millennials who have different expectations about communication than older generations. It s a population that eats, breathes and sleeps with their mobile phones and social media.as a communicator, you not only need to consistently communicate with this generation, you need to engage with them. That means going away from , the company intranet, and newsletters, which don t align with how they prefer to consume information. The time has come for you to implement a communication and engagement strategy. Not only will you get on board with 21st century tools, you ll see higher levels of employee engagement and the increased productivity and performance that comes with it. What is an engaged employee? What is a deskless employee? Engaged employees feel connected to the company. Management communicates with them and genuinely listens to their needs. Their opinions are not just valued, they re welcomed. But as Gartner points out, less than one-third of employees are engaged. That may be because 74% of employees feel that they missing out on company information and news (Mindshare). This is why it s critical to launch a mobile-optimized communication program: Engaged employees are 57% more effective and 87% less likely to leave the company. (ADP, Corporate Executive Board) Deskless employees work in stores, on factory floors, in warehouses, on construction sites, and in the field serving customers. They spend their days mainly doing physical work rather than using a keyboard or phone. And there are a lot of them. 80% of the global workforce, which is approximately 3 billion people, performs physical or deskless work. (Google) 1

3 YOUR NEW WORKFORCE: MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z Employers need to adjust to the way the most recent generations live and communicate Who? Key Stats Mindset Mobile Behavior Millennials and Generation Z. At 75.4 million they are now the largest living generation. (Pew Research) By 2020 they ll make up 46% of the workforce. (Upworthy) 64% ask about a company s social media policy during interviews. (Upworthy) Mobile is their default way of communicating with friends and family. They expect to do the same with co-workers and colleagues. They re attracted to employers with cultures and processes that align with their thinking and habits. Over 86% own smartphones, more than any other age group. (USA Today) They account for 41% of the total time Americans spend with smartphones, despite being just 30% of the population. (MarketWatch) 47% of people between say they can t live without their smartphone (Pew Research Center) 39% nearly 4 in 10 Millennials say they interact more with their smartphones than they do with their significant others, parents, friends, children or co-workers (Bank of America) There s a new generation of associates that walk through the door every day and many of them live and breath and have grown up in a social media world. We have to avoid the disillusionment of them coming into our organization and seeing that we are not communicating in the same way that they communicate in the outside world. Andrew Cutler, Internal Communications BMW Group 2

4 WHY DESKLESS EMPLOYEES PREFER MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS They get the exact information they need: With mobile, you can slice and dice information for specific segments of employees. Deliver personalized information and messages based on location, department and job function, as well as their interests and online behaviors. It s convenient: In real-time, on the factory or at the coffee shop, employees can receive company news, schedule changes, announcements and more. They can also use chat tools to troubleshoot problems or get advice from co-workers all without leaving their location. They re comfortable sharing company-related content: There are now mobile technologies that allow you to create a hub of company-approved content for employees to share. Employees want to share content about their workplaces with their social networks and feel comfortable doing it. In 2015, 24% of employees worked from home. (Fast Company) 55% of employees said mobile alerts about news and content would help them be more informed and engaged with their company. (Mindshare NA) Only 13% of employees even visit the intranet, while 30% ignore their employer s s. (Prescient Digital) Mobile is particularly important for our in-store staff. It gives us the ability to deliver content directly to them while they are in our retail stores. Kristian Lorenzon, Head of Social O2 3

5 HOW MOBILE COMMUNICATION BENEFITS EMPLOYERS Employee engagement can increase revenue: With the wide reach and instant nature of mobile communications, you create deeper employee engagement. And that can improve the bottom line. According to a Holmes Report, when Best Buy boosted employee engagement scores, they also increased sales for each individual by $100,000 each year. Better communication saves money: When you engage employees, you do more than improve morale. The same Holmes Report showed that because of poor communication, companies lose about $26,000 per employee, every year based on productivity losses. Increase efficiency: Mobile means deskless employees can collaborate on projects, share documents, access company information, and receive instructions anytime, anywhere during the workday. They don t have to go back to a workstation. Get valuable intelligence: Through mobile surveys, polls, user behavior and other metrics, you can find out what communications work best with deskless employees. You can then apply those findings to specific departments or across the company. When compared to their competitors, organizations with higher levels of employee engagement are 18% more productive and 12% more profitable. (Gallup) Dynamic Signal is a really beautiful solution for companies that have a range of employees, who are in office environments to those who are not behind computers, perhaps in manufacturing settings or portions of the workforce that are on the road and in mobile environments. Christopher Hannegan, Executive Vice President & U.S. Practice Lead, Employee Edelman 4

6 HOW TO CONNECT WITH DESKLESS EMPLOYEES CREATE A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY Define your goals: Just like your overall internal communications strategy, your mobile communications strategy needs to have clear objectives. Spell out the big ideas you want to convey to deskless employees. For example: Keep them up to date on new products and features Inform them about company news Share internal announcements about employee recognition and achievements Get them involved in decisions around marketing, events and promotions Address the biggest pain points: Sit down with your team and consider what aspects of your communications haven t been working. Then ask deskless employees what they think could improve, as well as the types of content and formats they prefer. Some common stumbling blocks include: You can t get information to employees fast enough You can t measure if any communications are actually working You can t personalize communications for role, location or department There s no common understanding about the company s mission Departments aren t aware of each other s activities and achievements (Sales doesn t know what Marketing s doing, and vice versa) There s a lack of engagement, which might be responsible for employee turnover Segment your audiences: Mobile technology has made it easy to get the right information at the right time to the right employee. You can also target specific groups. To get started, create a spreadsheet and assign types of communications to each segment based on job title, function and location. Measure impact: Tools are now available that allow you to track what s effective and what s unsuccessful. You can measure actions like video views and click-through rates, even where someone stopped filling out an online form. With these statistics you can adjust internal communications, which improves results and provides evidence when you re proposing changes or fresh ideas. Get to the point: Consider that the average human attention span is now merely 8.25 seconds, a decrease of 33% since 2000 (Social Media Today). So make sure that communications are simple, clear and concise. Remember that your messages are competing with all of the employee s other mobile activity. Rethink training: If Millennials prefer mobile, it makes sense to shift some, if not all, classroom training to smartphone-based training. Deskless employees can avoid travel while learning at their own pace. 43% percent of learners say the ability to access training content from a mobile device as essential or very useful. (Training Mag) 5

7 60% of employees feel their relationship with their employer positively impacts their focus or productivity at work. (Virging Pulse) TRY THESE MOBILE COMMUNICATION TACTICS FOR YOUR TEAM Encourage mobile collaboration and messaging Imagine being a deskless worker on the floor of a retail store. You have a question about a product and need to help a customer fast, but is too slow and cumbersome. With software like Slack, Yammer, HipChat, Facebook Messenger, Jive, and of course Dynamic Signal, you can instantly communicate and collaborate with other employees who can help you. Because of the interface, messages get quicker responses than , which can get buried in an inbox. Keep them organized Thanks to the combination of cloud technology and mobile phones, deskless employees can access digital files without having to lug around a laptop. Try Google Drive, Basecamp or Dropbox, all which allow you to store massive amount of files, with the ability to upload new documents or edit existing documents. TRY THESE MOBILE CONTENT IDEAS Encourage the use of social media: The average Millennial mobile user spends nearly 26 hours a month using social media applications. Since they already use social all the time, it s natural for that habit to extend to your company s social activity. Deliver company-approved content for them to share with their networks, which can generate brand awareness and drive leads and sales for the company. Send videos: According to Adweek, 60% of people prefer video over reading text. Nearly two-thirds of millennials would rather watch a video than read text (Warc). And who can blame them? With its combination of imagery, music, audio and graphics, video is the most compelling way to communicate announcements and new initiatives. Be visual: Besides video, use others types of visuals like photography and graphics in s, text messages, even chat conversations. They create more impact than plain copy - 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text (Hubspot). Pair visuals with messages about company news, employment opportunities, product announcements and more. Share success: Whether it s a creative video or colorful infographic, send out regular updates about company accomplishments. Give praise for a specific department s performance or celebrate an individual employee s award. Content like this makes deskless employees feel more connected to the larger team, and motivates them to do even more in their jobs. Also share industry news and trends to create an even deeper connection to the company. 6

8 Inspire action: It s not always enough to get people to watch or read. Every communication should explicitly ask them to do something, so always include a call-to-action (CTA). Popular CTAs include Fill out the form, Sign up for the class, Register for this event today, Share this with your friends, and Tell us what you think in the comments section. Increase response by offering incentives for their actions. Get them involved: Deskless employees should be your partners in developing and refining the mobile communications plan. We suggest providing them with an open channel to gather their feedback and ideas. Try polls and surveys, and in the footer of communications literally spell out, We want to know how we can improve our communications. Tell us. Visual content increases engagement by 65%. (HubSpot) More than 5,000 Salesforce employees share company-approved content on social, driving 1 MILLION CLICKS 250,000 REACTIONS I definitely hear from employees who feel more informed and engaged by using our employee advocacy platform, Bonfire. It s not only about sharing the content, it s about connecting to the content. Julie Hayes, Senior Brand Communications Autodesk 7

9 YOUR WORKFORCE IS WAITING. ARE YOU READY? When you improve how you engage with employees, your company sees improved output. In fact, according to Gallup, organizations with a high level of engagement report 22% higher productivity. Take that number to heart when thinking about implementing a mobile communications plans. Over 86% of Millennials own a smartphone, and by 2020 they ll comprise 46% of the workforce. So as you can see, it s pretty clear that going mobile isn t a matter of if, it s really a matter of when. The sooner you start, the better the results you ll get. Use the advice and tactics in this ebook to transform your internal communications. As you improve employee engagement, you ll see a more inspired, productive workforce. 8

10 Connect with Your Most Valued Asset, Your Employees Modernize, streamline, and measure all your employee communication with one platform. Trusted by Hundreds of the World s Leading Brands Employee Communication and Engagement Platform Modernize Streamline Measure Mobile-optimized, personalized way to connect with your employees on their terms: Push notifications and alerts Native video Documents, newsletters, surveys Single platform delivers trusted information that employees need to do their jobs: Consolidates existing systems Easily accessible Targets relevant content Accurate metrics show effectiveness of communication and where to improve: Track engagement Optimize strategy Demonstrate strategic impact 20% of the Fortune 100 use Dynamic Signal to keep global employees informed and engaged All 8 of the top PR Agencies in the world use Dynamic Signal internally and suggest it for their customers Over 4 million pieces of content have been published on the Dynamic Signal platform f DynamicSignal l DynamicSignal