Communication platforms can be powerful tools.
They are home to all of our internal communication and information — and can become even more powerful when we use them to offer helpful services and self-services to our employees.
Why?
Well, it’s a win for everyone.
Your employees can quickly and easily find helpful information.
The providers of the services (like HR) can simplify administrative processes and gain better access to employees.
And as communicators, services help you strengthen your platform and comms channels:
- You can connect to other departments that have touchpoints with employees and offer to include their services in the platform.
- Or you can provide comms-owned services like summarizing important service functions or combining information that has added value such as creating an events page where all company events are listed.
But how do you know which employee services to provide?
Let’s take a look at the three best practices for employee services, which we cover in our Masterclass.
1. Think about your audience
The most important thing to provide great services is to really know your audience.
Think about their different workdays, the information and services they need, and the devices they are using. This may be very different depending on their roles and their locations. But the better you know them, the more value you can provide.
For more advice, watch our video on getting to know your audience.
2. Think about structure
Make sure to keep your most time-sensitive news front and center on your communication channels. This way, employees will see the news even if they’re scrolling to something else.
And don’t worry — usability tests have shown that users don’t mind a few extra clicks when finding specific information as long your information architecture is comprehensive.
3. Think about integration
When you integrate your services, it makes your internal comms experience simpler for your employees. Here are four approaches to integration:
1. You can link to a service.
This is an easily accessible and very useful approach — for example, linking to tools through a launchpad.
2. You can embed a service.
Ideally, you embed services from other tools with a single sign-on so employees do not have to log in again.
3. You can use a mixed approach.
This is partially embedding, partially linking. For example, embedding an org chart from your HR software in your app, but linking to the HR software for more complex tasks.
4. You can fully integrate services.
While this may be great for the user experience, it is often expensive and not feasible for many organizations.
Resources to help you maximize employee services for internal communication
When it comes to employee services, a little can go a long way.
A little energy put into setup can provide ongoing value to your employees. You can make HR processes more accessible, make time-sensitive information more prominent, and help free up your employees’ time to focus on their work.
Want to learn more about the power of employee services? Check out our full Masterclass here:
We’ve also created an Internal Comms Strategy Template Collection with helpful templates and links to resources for your internal communication strategy. Click on the image below to download it!
This is the last lesson in our Masterclass series (can you believe it?). If you missed a blog or video, no worries — we’ve got them all for you right here.