Why Every HR Department Needs an Employee Text Messaging System

Email might be the most popular workplace communication form. However, these days, employee text messaging systems to communicate with employees are becoming increasingly popular among HR departments. As per the study, the average person has around 1602 unread emails in their inbox, while the average unread text is 47. Text messages for employee communication are becoming popular because SMS offers various benefits over email. It includes fast delivery, a user-friendly interface, lower cost for you and your employees, and improved employee engagement.

Fortunately, text messages get straight into the inboxes, which is most likely that each employee will check. This kind of effective communication can prevent misunderstandings, and employees feel supported. According to Finance Online Satistics, Americans check their phones around 96 times/per day. Therefore, we don’t think we need to clarify more on why SMS human resources works best for internal workplace communication, facilitates onboarding new employees, and streamlines the other essential business operations of the company.

HR professionals, employers, and managers all require easy and quick ways to communicate with their staff, employees, and potential employees. This article will discuss how an employee text messaging system can help you enhance communication.

Let’s first start with understanding what an employee text messaging system is.

What is an Employee Text Messaging System?

An employee text messaging system is a communication tool specifically designed for direct, instant, and effective communication between human resource departments and employees through SMS. HR department not only manages policies but also helps build a culture of trust and connection; this is where the employee text messaging system becomes ideal for HR teams.

The main aim of the text messaging system is to improve employee engagement, simplify the communication processes, and ensure important messages reach employees on time. Therefore, you can prevent misunderstandings. This employee text messaging system can be used to send text alerts, bulk texting to employees, message scheduling and sending automated SMS and MMS, and two-way texting.

Why do HR Departments Need a Text Messaging System?

Effective communication plays an imperative role in the success of any organization. Human resource teams can reach employees wherever they are and at the right time through text messaging scripts. Text messaging offers various advantages over other email and other communication channels, such as increased delivery and engagement rate, better and instant reach, and more, especially regarding workplace communication.

They cannot send these text messages from personal phone numbers, so they need an employee text messaging system in place. Not only that, there are other reasons to opt for the SMS human resource system.

Let’s explore why HR departments need a text messaging system.

1. Text messaging system helps improve employee engagement.

Whenever communication takes place on time and is transparent, its effectiveness thrives. Through the SMS human resource system, the HR team can send employees motivational quotes and wellness tips, event reminders, conduct surveys for feedback, announce company-wide events, and much more. It helps improve employee engagement.

 For example, an HR manager could send a message:

Hey, Team, we have arranged a wellness webinar at 2 PM tomorrow. Don’t forget! Click here to register.:[Link]. We would love to see you!

2. HR departments can send urgent notifications to keep employees informed.

The HR team can send urgent notifications to employees through the employee text messaging system. Emergencies require immediate action, and by sending clear, on-time, and transparent messages, HR teams can ensure employees stay informed whenever any unforeseen situations like IT outages and unexpected office closures occur. The HR department can send compliance and policy updates or safety alerts via text.

 For example, the HR manager can send a message to keep employees informed regarding unexpected office closures.

Important! Due to severe weather conditions, the office will remain closed tomorrow. For any further updates, please check mail.

3. SMS is highly effective compared to email

Let’s quickly compare SMS vs Email to understand why SMS is a highly effective and efficient option to generate positive. 

4. HR departments can use SMS for internal communications.

HR teams can use SMS for effective internal communications like new job opening announcements, sending work anniversary or birthday wishes, sharing training schedules, etc. It delivers important information to the employees straight into their inboxes.

 For example,

Congratulations, Ema, for completing 5 Years with us! We are thankful for your exceptional contributions, outstanding performance, distinguished commitment, and loyalty towards the organization!

How can an Employee Text Messaging System Enhance HR Functions? What Benefits Does it Offer to HR?

Human resource departments usually manage employee functions such as recruitment, training, retention, payroll, and benefits enrollment. All these tasks come with their unique challenges. Here, we have listed some unique challenges and discussed how SMS can help overcome them.

1. Delivering critical messages to the employee

HR teams should keep employees informed regarding policies, training, enrollment, and more. On the other hand, employees must receive the HR messages on time, read them, and take appropriate action. Usually, when email is used for such purposes, it sits unread. To overcome these challenges, HR teams are turning to SMS, and the people who benefit from it are remote workers, new hires, and HR managers.

 How?

 Remote workers receive instant updates about the location, HR managers can save time by sending reminders and follow-ups, and the new hires feel supported throughout their onboarding journey.

 SMS is an excellent channel for sending employees operational alerts and some in-the-moment notifications. It helps HR teams keep their employees informed about current situations and lets them know what to do.

 For example, here is how the HR team can inform staff about IT outages or any tech interruptions and weather-related changes.

 IT outages

Internet Outage Alert! Internet service is down today! IT team is working to resolve the issue. If internet service is required, please work from home today!

 Weather-related Operational Changes

Pay Attention! Our office will remain closed today due to heavy snowfall. Please stay home and work from home today until further notice. Thanks!

2. Tedious recruiting and onboarding process

The recruiting and onboarding process is quite challenging and tedious because it involves constant communication and lots of schedule coordination. However, text messages can help overcome this challenge.

 The HR team can use SMS to schedule and reschedule the interview, follow up on the post-interview, send them interview reminders, inform potential candidates about their application status, share important information regarding onboarding and paperwork, send welcome messages along with training links, and even promote new job openings.

 Interview Scheduling

Hey, [Candidate Name]! This is [HR name] from [company name]. Your resume is quite impressive, and we’d love to schedule a telephone interview with you for the [position name]. Are you available on [Date] at time]?

 Post-interview Follow Up

Hello, [candiate name]! [HR name] from [company name] on this side. I apologize, but we need to reschedule your interview for [Date] at Time]. Are you available? Please confirm.

 Onboarding Information

Hey, [candidate name]! Welcome to the [company name]! We will email you some paperwork by [Date]. Please complete it before your joining date – [HR name, company name].

 Quick Update on the first-day itinerary

Congratulations, [candiate name]! This is [HR name] at [company]. We are all set for your first day on [Date]. We have sent you an orientation email including location, time, and parking instructions. Please check your email. See you on [Date]!

3. Valuable feedback

Generally, HR departments struggle to get valuable feedback from employees. They want to know how employees feel about their current jobs and feedback about the latest training session/outing/webinar. Here is where employee text messaging systems like Textdrip can help the HR team collect and manage valuable feedback from the employees. This feedback can help them improve their processes. 

Also, if the HR team sends lengthy forms by email, they can experience deterred participation. On the other hand, text-based surveys encourage employees to respond honestly, increase participation rates, and help the HR team collect actual data. By personalizing messages through an automated SMS marketing platform like Textdrip, HR can send bulk text to staff and encourage them to respond.

Hey Team! It’s a wrap for the week! Before you head home to enjoy a long weekend, please take 5 minutes and fill out this quick survey on last week’s training session – [Link]. 

 Or

Happy weekend team! Before you head home, we would love to know how you would rate this week’s training session. Reply with numbers from 1 to 5. (1 = Poor, 5 = Outstanding). Your votes matter!

4. Reminders about important deadlines

There are various tasks that HR teams manage that have strict deadlines, such as payroll, insurance enrollment, mandatory training, etc. HR teams struggle to manage this, and they need to ensure that the employees are aware of these deadlines and complete tasks on time. To overcome this challenge, HR teams send text message reminders about the specific task. Platforms like Textdrip help resolve this challenge by: 

•   Scheduling text message reminders at the right time.
•   Segmenting employees into specific groups sends relevant messages to each employee.

For example, HR teams can schedule and send payroll reminders via text messages like this:

Reminder! Please approve your time card before 5 PM tomorrow. We will release your monthly payment tomorrow. Thank you for being a valued member of the team! 

5. Maintain a positive work environment.

The human resource team is responsible for setting a positive work culture in the organization, but they often struggle. They can overcome this challenge by sending text messages to shout-out team members, automated birthday texts, using SMS to gather feedback about company outings, or staying connected with remote and field workers. It will help them build a positive work culture and retain employees.

For example,

Proud Moment! We are excited to announce this year’s best employee [employee name]. He deserves this award because of his hard work, dedication, and commitment. Read more on [Link] – [HR name, company name].

Or

Well deserved! Kudos to the [team name] for hitting their goal only 20 days into this month! This Friday’s lunch is on us to appreciate their efforts. [HR name, the company name].

Other than all these, the HR teams can use SMS for the following scenarios.

1. Compliance and Policy Updates

Hey, [employee name]! Just a quick reminder about your upcoming training [name] on [Date] at [time]. Details here – [Link]! Thank You!

2. Job Openings

Hi Team! We have a new [position name] position opening today! Click here to apply – [Link].

3. New Benefits Announcement

Exciting announcement! We have added mental health and wellness services to your employee benefits packages. You can access this service through this provider. Click here for more details: [Link].

How to Get Started with an Employee Text Messaging System?

Here are a few simple steps you must follow to get started with an employee text messaging system.

First, you need to identify the key HR functions of your organization to which text messages can add value. After that, select the right SMS marketing platform with features such as personalization, bulk texting, automation, scheduling, etc. Once you select the platform, set clear guidelines for when and how to use text messaging.

Give your HR team proper training regarding best practices. After that, you can test the system with the small group before rolling it out company-wide. Regularly analyze the performance and track the performance metrics like open rate, response rate, and more, and adjust your strategy based on them.

Let’s Improve Workplace Communication With Employee Text Messaging System! 

SMS is an excellent tool for sharing time-sensitive information with your employees, coordinating field teams effectively, and keeping your workplace connected. Texting gives the HR department a direct line to the employees and helps improve communication during onboarding, enrollment, training, and more.

If you are searching for the best-automated SMS platform for HR, Textdrip is the perfect pick. It is a top-rated employee text messaging system, making it super easy for different teams to communicate and collaborate. So, if you are ready to use SMS for internal communication in your workplace, book a demo with Textdrip and try it for free. Its features, like automation, scheduling, bulk texting, personalization, and much more, make internal workplace communication seamless.