Increased understanding of the value of a centralized intranet during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing need for robust crisis communications strategies has delivered an increased demand for centralized communications platforms that can also provide remote working solutions.
Jo Skilton, chief commercial officer at Unily, a cloud-based intranet platform, discusses how enterprise companies can deliver a powerful employee experienceOpens a new window to remote employees with the help of modern intranet solutions. She talks about leveraging intuitive technology to promote efficiency for end-users. Jo also highlights the most useful metrics and KPIs for measuring employee experienceOpens a new window during a crisis.
In this edition of HR Talk, Jo guides enterprises to gravitate toward internal communications to improve employee experience and agility in the workplace. She shares top tips for acquiring and implementing new technologies, and the mistakes HR can avoid.
Key takeaways to improve employee experience using cloud-based intranetOpens a new window :
- People working from home may not be the new normal for everyone, but it will be increasingly employed now that companies see how well it can work.
- An increased demand for centralized communications platforms will pique the interest of enterprise companies seeking to understand what a modern intranet can deliver
- Understanding that the future of the workplace and employee experience will hinge on effective use of technology, it is vital that companies invest in technologies with strong User Experience (UX) credentials
Heres the edited transcript from our exclusive interview with Jo Skilton:
1. The digital workplace will be evolving rapidly in the post pandemic era. Which are the 3 key elements that HR needs today to improve employee experience and ensure agility in the workplace?
I think this pandemic has shown just how important HR and specifically internal communications are to all organizations. To truly ensure agility in the workplace, we must trust our employees and our leaders. Messaging and disseminating of information must be clear, concise, and consistent. Three key trends emerging in the post pandemic era include:
- Culture: The pandemic has presented equal amounts of challenges as opportunities for building a strong culture. With the right communications tools and strategies, companies have an opportunity to increase trust and demonstrate value to employees in supporting wellbeing at a time of uncertainty and increased stress for many. The way a company responds to the crisis will be remembered by employees for years to come. When employees feel cared for, they respond by caring more about what they do at work.
- Cross departmental collaboration: HR and Internal Communications have many overlapping goals. As the workplace ecosystem shifts, it is vital that these two teams work together, alongside IT, to implement effective, collaborative strategies that will allow employees to stay connected to their colleagues and company culture regardless of how the new normal emerges.
- Leveraging technology: Using tech in a simplified, centralized way that promotes efficiency for platform managers and end-users through intuitive UX and centralized technology stacks. Now more than ever, technology + strategy = success.
2. How the biggest employers have used Unily platform to communicate with their employees during the COVID-19 crisis? What are the most valuable lessons you can share with HR managers?
Real-time communication is key in the early stages our clients have overwhelmingly reported the value of a centralized intranet for delivering timely and targeted updates to employees that enabled the business continuity in a crisis. Across the board we have seen:
Widespread usage and engagement: From the number of social reactions to the quantity of articles published, platform usage continues to climb. From late January to late March, social usage has increased by over 103% and article consumption has climbed by 70%. This indicates that clients arent merely skimming headlines but rather reading content and discussing updates with their colleagues.
COVID-19 content remains a priority: Our data also reveals an ongoing demand for news about COVID-19. The number of Coronavirus searches is now over 70x greater than it was just two months ago. Simultaneously, weve seen a 235% increase in the number of articles viewed that include the term coronavirus.
Email broadcasts are crucial: To feed this need for updates, many of our clients are turning to their Broadcast Center. Weve seen a 35% increase in the number of clients who utilize this feature, as well as close to a 20% increase in the amount of email broadcasts sent out weekly.
3. What is the single most dramatic shift you see happening in the HR tech space in a post COVID-19 world?
- People working from home may not be the new normal for everyone, but it will be increasingly employed now that companies see how well it can work. To ensure the workforce remains engaged and informed at every level means consistent communication.
- Increased understanding of the value of a centralized intranet during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing need for robust crisis communications strategies has delivered an increased demand for centralized communications platforms that can also provide remote working solutions. As a result, we have seen a massive uptick in interest from enterprise companies seeking to understand what a modern intranet can deliver, and how they can bring their own digital experiences into the modern era with a powerful intranet.
Learn More: 3 Benefits of Staying Connected to Former EmployeesOpens a new window
4. In acquiring and implementing new technologies, what are the one or two most common mistakes HR organizations make, and how can they avoid them?
- Multiple technologies: One of the biggest challenges facing enterprise departments while undergoing digital transformation is the temptation to gravitate toward specialist technologies for every need. For example, a specific rewards and recognition system, followed by an employee benefits platform, followed by an expenses technology and a separate holiday booking system. The result is a confused technology landscape that becomes laborious for both system managers and end-users. To overcome this cumbersome experience, companies should select interoperable technologies that can be accessed from a centralized system with consumer-grade UX. It is our belief that a powerful company intranet can and will fulfil this need for businesses as they begin to review their digital dexterity.
- Not getting the right stakeholders together at the start of the digital transformation journey: The IT team need to understand the benefits of a digital transformation strategy, just as much as the communications team. All stakeholders need to be clear as to the companys objectives and what success looks like.
Learn More: 3 Ways Intranet Platforms Can Improve Employee Loyalty And EngagementOpens a new window
5. Which are the most useful metrics and KPIs for measuring employee experience during a crisis?
- Engagement with communications: Looking at views, comments, reactions, and shares on digital communications will indicate whether employees are engaging with company messaging and what kind of communications they are interested in. It is a good temperature check for the zeitgeist of your workforce and helps to define a communications strategy that resonates with employees and drives meaningful experiences.
- Access to mental health provisions: Are you seeing an increased demand for mental health support? If not, are you employees aware of the wellbeing support you company offers? At times of crisis, we know that employee mental health risk is heightened and ensuring access to help is critical. This is the time to show your employees you care and reap rewards of positive culture later.
- Assessing communications mediums: What channels are employees using to find information in a crisis? If you are experiencing high volumes of email traffic to managers or HR teams this reveals a gap in communications.
Learn More: 4 Ways HR Professionals Can Help Employees Beat Burnout in Todays Always-On WorkplaceOpens a new window
6. What are the top 3 best practices to follow for functional leaders who wish to promote digital wellness amongst employees working remotely?
- Communicate regularly and personably: Consider leveraging your leadership in comms, for example sharing a message from your CEO. Creating open channels of communication with leadership reassured employees that their concerns are shared at the highest levels of the company and help to build trust, which in turn builds engagement and contributes towards a positive employee experience.
- Ensure easy access to mental health support: Think about creating a wellbeing hub on your intranet or other easily accessible system.
- Enable feedback channels: Open channels of communication are critical to understanding the workforce mood and strategizing to create stronger support for employee wellbeing. Open channels of communication can include active social network channels, where employees feel free to share their ideas and concerns. Other options include feedback forms, pulse surveys and more traditional paths like E-Sat reports. Using a centralized technology like an intranet to disseminate feedback loops and track responses helps to streamline the process and deliver meaningful insights, rapidly.
7. Whats trending in the employee experience space for 2020 and post COVID-19?
- Internal Communications will experience an uptick in value to the business: Internal communications are the life blood of culture in many ways. Particularly for large, dispersed, enterprise sized workforces; internal communication is the cultural lynchpin that aligns employees from across the globe under a centralized brand mission. COVID-19 and the acceleration of remote working practices will see Internal Communications come under new pressures to ensure employees remain connected to their colleagues and company strategy, regardless of their location. Delivering a united employee experience will rely on a robust internal communications strategy supported by the right technology to reach every employee.
- Supporting remote work: Critical to strong employee experience will be the ability of a company to provide streamlined, remote access to company systems. Technology frustrations are a leading cause of workplace dissatisfaction and productivity slumps. As the workforce becomes more remote, it is essential that the digital workplace is bolstered to provision remote access to resources, communications, and technology stacks so that employees can complete their work from anywhere. Enabling agile working will, in turn, boost employee experience by delivering greater work-life balance.
- Consumer grade technology: Understanding that the future of the workplace and employee experience will hinge on effective use of technology, it is vital that companies invest in technologies with strong User Experience (UX) credentials. We live in an age where employees expectations of what technology can deliver is informed by their consumer experiences, where convenience is key. Employees will be more attracted to employers who can deliver technology experiences that meet their expectations for intuitive use. Those that do not, risk losing talent or at the very least, failing to maximize it.
About Jo SkiltonOpens a new window :
Having joined Unily in 2019, Jo Skilton, Chief Commercial Officer of Unily, advises companies to stay on top of their internal communications keeping all employees informed, building up trust and security. With over 20 years experience in senior commercial, customer-facing roles for FTSE100 companies and fast-paced companies with global growth aspirations, Jo understands the pressures that businesses are facing right now.
About UnilyOpens a new window :
Unily was founded in 2005 by two British entrepreneurs to provide modern enterprises with employee experience platforms and intranet solutions to solve challenges surrounding communication, collaboration, productivity, and engagement. With 3,000,000 users, Unily is at the forefront of the digital workplace revolution, supplying the world’s biggest brands with market-leading intranet software tailored to the needs of the modern workforce. A gold partner of Microsoft, Unily has a leading portfolio of FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 clients including British Airways, McDonalds, Shell, Mars, LOral, and Cathay Pacific.
About HR Talk
HR Talk is an interview series that features top people and talent leaders from HR tech and Fortune 500 companies who are redefining the future of work. Join us as we talk to these HR tech and people analytics experts to get in-depth insights, and some pro-tips on how HR tech can best work for you and your people.
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