NOBODY foresaw a health pandemic to hit the world this year. Governments and private institutions were caught off-guard. What systems were in place to respond to such a crisis that would change people’s lives?
When the Philippine government implemented the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to fight and contain the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus, people grappled with the new realities of work or study from home, faced sleepless nights over uncertainties about their future, and continuously searched for information to protect themselves and their families.
Justin Irons, a millennial who works at a media company, shared that one of the things that kept him awake at night was the impact of the pandemic on the company as he started reading news reports about business closures and rising unemployment.
“When the pandemic first hit the country, my primary concern was the state of our company’s business. I wanted to ask my employer if the crisis would directly affect my job. I was worried [about becoming] one of those…displaced by the pandemic,” he said.
With information and disinformation spreading so fast on social media or chat groups, it was important for organizations to communicate regularly with their stakeholders to address their concerns and keep them abreast of the latest health bulletins and internal developments.
“I find myself checking my e-mails more often during this pandemic. Organizational announcements matter to me now,” said Justin. “Unlike before, I constantly visit our company’s social network Yammer for updates. I felt FOMO [fear of missing out], especially because I work remotely and did not want to miss any news about our company’s status amid this pandemic.”
Justin’s concerns and constant search for company information were no different from many employees. A survey conducted by Ragan Communications, in conjunction with PoliteMail, in July 2020 among corporate communicators in the US showed that employees are concerned about their employment, and they want to hear the state of their business from their leaders.
It revealed the four most popular internal communications tools used in various companies, namely e-mail (93 percent), video or virtual meetings (83 percent), the intranet (41 percent), and internal, chat, and real-time messaging tools at 34 percent.
While e-mail has always been the most used communication channel, the survey showed an increased usage compared to pre-Covid periods.
In a recent webinar, Michael DesRochers, founder of PoiliteMail software that provides e-mail analytics for Microsoft Outlook, shared some tips on keeping remote employees engaged with e-mail communication.
DesRochers advised communication professionals to keep e-mails brief, which can be read in less than two minutes, in order to achieve higher read rates. The “sweet spot,” he said, is 500 words. If it goes beyond, the read rate declines.
Other helpful tactics shared by DesRochers include sending e-mails with only one to two links, putting more visuals to increase read rates, and establishing a fixed time and day of the week in sending out routine e-mails.
Interestingly, he shared that e-mails sent early in the week, between Mondays to Wednesdays, have a higher readership than those sent on Thursdays and Fridays.
There is a way to measure e-mails. It would help internal communication professionals understand the kind of information employees are looking for and how they use it.
Meanwhile, the study showed an increase in the use of internal social networking channels, with 83 percent of the respondents saying they were using them more now than before.
As people spend more time on social media, it makes sense for companies to explore using these channels apart from the traditional and existing communication tools.
A study by the World Economic Forum reported that Filipinos spent an average of four hours and one minute on social-media networks every day in 2019, which was almost twice the time spent by global netizens at two hours and 23 minutes.
Advancements in information technology and social media’s ubiquity in people’s lives have changed how we communicate.
For many years, corporate intranets have been the go-to-source for official information. Unless the intranets have been modernized, accessing information from the field and ease of sharing information may be difficult for users.
Nowadays, companies can choose from various enterprise social network channels and modern intranet software to effectively reach and engage their workers.
Next week, I will share with you some of the insights, challenges, and helpful tips from communication professionals who have used Microsoft’s Yammer and Facebook’s Workplace.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premiere association for senior communications professionals around the world. Kane Errol Choa is the vice president of Integrated Corporate Communications of ABS-CBN Corp.
PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.
Image credits: Photo by Castorly Stock | Pexels