Divisive strategy

The communication revolution has transformed employer-employee communication over the past decade. Today, intranets and mobile devices keep the office based employee up to date on company news; provide constant access to HR, payroll and benefits; and ensure expenses and holiday can be authorised at the touch of a button. But such easy to use solutions are only available to the desk bound or Blackberry enabled individual. What about the many thousands of employees who work outside the office, in shops, hotels, airports and factories?

These individuals rarely have desks or internet access where they work and they are certainly not allocated company Blackberries – the cost is simply too high and value too small. So in this switched on world, many retailers are still relying on old fashioned notice boards or posted documentation to keep these employees up to date on anything from shift patterns to payslips, health and safety updates to holiday entitlement. This strategy undermines green initiatives and is not only highly costly and extremely unreliable but is also somewhat divisive. Why should one set of employees gain better, faster access to key corporate services such as HR and payroll than another, simply due to location or job role?

Why should the shop or factory employee be unable to check holiday entitlement or clarify opportunities for company perks – such as staff discount – during the working day?  Whilst it is completely understandable that enabling these individuals to make phone calls to key services during the working day is impossible in the majority of cases, forcing them to use paper and post in today’s climate of real time communication is iniquitous.

Valued communications

Most retailers are highly aware of the problems created by poor communication processes with non office-based staff. Relying on the post or notice boards to update shift information or deliver health & safety notices is both inefficient and unreliable. Yet few retailers have taken any steps to address the issue. From the High Street onwards, retailers are still posting information to update employees, even when the employee has provided an email address.

Of course it is not cost effective to provide all staff with Blackberries. But there are alternatives: retailers can provide all non office-based staff with a dedicated email address, transforming the effectiveness of communication and significantly reducing costs. Given the nature and frequency of communication, these employees have no need of complex office-style email tools and thick clients such as Outlook. A simple yet scalable web-based tool that enables secure access from any location will both reduce overheads and allow employees to access their email from any location.

Engaged employees

By rolling out email accounts to all employees who did not previously have access to company email, a retailer can provide everyone with the ability to communicate online with colleagues worldwide, as well as to receive information. However, many of these staff will not use PCs as part of their jobs, therefore it is essential to encourage employees to log on regularly either at home or at strategically located employee self service terminals.

For example, retailers can use email to provide alerts containing clickable links to key processes that include pay, expenses, rosters and staff travel. If an employee books business travel, for example, a request email is automatically sent to the line manager for approval. Approval is notified via a confirmation email which may also contain instructions to perform further actions to complete the process.

Critically, unlike a website which offers a one to many communication, retailers can use email both to contact specific employees direct and to tailor key corporate messages to specific groups of individuals, significantly improving the relevance of each communication and further boosting employee willingness to adopt email. This approach provides all staff with more immediate and interactive access to managers as well as increased access to corporate initiatives which also helps to increase employee engagement.

Greater communication

Indeed, once an email solution is in place, retailers can significantly increase the volume of employee communication, adding corporate newsletters and industry information, for example. Combined with rapid access to information on key services such as HR and payroll, this timely and targeted information significantly improves employee engagement and overall morale.

The adoption of a simple to use, standards-based email platform dramatically reduces the cost of employee communication. It also paves the way to diverse communication approaches in the future. With the arrival of unified communications, organisations can opt to deliver messages in a variety of formats, such as Instant Messaging (IM), or provide access from a mobile phone, to suit the needs of the employee or reflect the timeliness of a specific communication. 

The rise of consumer-orientated smart phones, such as the iPhone, also make it more cost effective to push e-mail to more commonplace mobile handsets. Devices using ActiveSync OTA technology are made much more secure with direct server access.

For critical, time sensitive information, such as a shift change, retailers can text all affected employees with a request to check their email. Furthermore, using read and delivery receipts, a retailer can track employee usage of the system; any individual failing to log on regularly can be supported to ensure key communications are not overlooked. The ability to guarantee read and delivery receipts can only be obtained if a retailer introduces its own mail platform – using employees personal e-mail addresses will not meet this requirement and had additional issues around security and storage.

Equitable approach

Driving out the over reliance on paper, retailers can support green policies and drastically reduce the carbon footprint. Reducing print, postage and paper costs is a significant objective for every retailer today. Indeed, there is a growing feeling that government intervention could lead to legislation addressing a retailer’s green policies and processes – even the introduction of a green kite mark. Adopting a company wide employee email policy is a massive step towards improving green credentials. Critically, it provides a common communication method for every single employee irrespective of location, ensuring everyone can work together as one, unified team.

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