You don’t want to be guilty of picking the wrong tool and annoying your employees in the process.
We admit that Red e App isn’t right for every company. Depending on how your employees work, there are a number of solutions that could prove a better fit.
- Everyone sit behind a desk? Slack, Yammer and others were built just for you.
- Only looking to push out the occasional one-way blast to your entire audience? A mass texting application might work well.
- 100% of employees already have @company email they’re not reading? You probably don’t need another tool at all – just a messaging overhaul.
Who does Red e App connect well … and why?
The frontline, field-based or non-desk workers who lack a dedicated channel for information sharing … because they desperately want clear, direct, and relevant-to-them communication from their company.
If you’re still relying on bulletin board postings, flyers and shift meetings to connect with these folks, you’re wise to be considering a more up-to-date strategy. But are you choosing an app or tool that will just create noise for an employee it wasn’t designed for? Well, let’s just say you’d be better off investing in thumbtacks and printer cartridges.
A reverse how-to lesson
Avoid the noise – and the office supply order – by considering this reverse how-to. You’ll see that each option falls flat in meeting the needs of employees who aren’t driving a desk.
1. Implement a collaboration platform
Collaboration. So trendy, right? Chat and collaboration tools are the “in” way of thinking about projects and team communication … for you. Because you sit behind a desk. And have a need to collaborate digitally. Your frontline workforce doesn’t. A tool specifically created for that purpose offers them zilch.
This is not to say two-way communication isn’t valuable; it most certainly is, and you’d be missing out on a critical opportunity if you didn’t seize the chance to collect feedback and establish dialogue where appropriate.
But you accomplish that through a controlled workflow, within a platform intended for it. Not by trying to force a collaboration tool to be something its not.
The non-desk worker wants several things: timely company news, tailored messaging from managers, and easy access to content. None of these involves collaboration, which is why such a platform is the wrong venue for your communications.
2. Give everyone everything
Remember that quote, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody?” With some tweaking, it fits here: the key to failure is pushing the same information to everybody.
Does 1st shift need to know scheduling changes specific to 2nd shift? Probably not. What will happen if you bombard them with that info anyway? They’ll disengage and stop reading anything you send.
A generic content dump to your entire employee network is the equivalent of saying, “Well, here’s a file cabinet! We crammed as much as we could in. Have fun sorting through it!” No one wants to do that and you shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t try.
Be aware of your organizational structure and select a tool that offers a customized experience for each employee. This means tailored messaging and content by location, role or shift (or all of these!).
If the tool you’re looking at can’t deliver the right content to the right person, consider adding an extra large file cabinet to your office supply order list.
3. Rely on “likes” to measure engagement
Facebook’s little thumbs are really cute, aren’t they? They’re a great way for determining how many of your friends like a picture of your cat. They’re a horrible sole measuring stick of employee engagement and business sentiment.
A social experience has its place. That place just isn’t within a communications platform for frontline workers. There is zero current data that points – with a thumb or otherwise – to thinking among non-desk workers that weighing in via newsfeed “likes” makes them feel heard – or even more engaged.
What about comments and forums? Sure, if you want to seek out thousands and have them posted for all to read. Sounds manageable. And orderly. Definitely like the streamlined, efficient solution you were looking for.
Instead, you might consider relying on robust analytics that drill down into specific categories to identify growth, adoption and particular communications that are resonating with your employees. Then have actionable ways to predict things like turnover and ROI for new company initiatives. In our book, those things get not one but two thumbs way up.
So now what?
All joking aside, we hope you haven’t made one of these communications missteps and aren’t already down the path with a tool that is great for some companies – but not yours. Whether you have or are still doing your homework, Red e App can help.
A great place to start to see if ours will be a match made in comms heaven is our “Is Red e App Right for You?” survey. It only takes a minute (seriously, just 60 seconds).
If you’d rather define the relationship by phone, here’s our number – so call us, maybe: 855-Red e App (855-733-3277).
When you’re happy, we’re happy. Let’s figure out how to keep your employees happy, too, with the right tool for them.
