After you’ve defined what exactly you need from a potential new strategy, you must take stock of how well your past workplace communication strategies have fared. Are there signs of employee disengagement? Is work not being completed because of communication issues or rifts in the workplace? Not every shiny new workplace communication tool will do what you want it to. Investing in the latest employee communications technology is not enough, you have to know what to do with it to hit the ground running.

How often do you discover new features in your everyday work software you didn’t know you had? If you’re constantly finding new ways to use your employee communications technology, you didn’t know what you had when you invested in it.

I’m not blaming you. Investing in technology like cloud-based or video software is a means to an end. You have a problem and a particular employee communications platform has the solution.

Maximum return on investment is the goal. Boosting employee engagement in tangible ways, building easier ways to work, creating fully-functioning, healthy work relationships, etc. all boost the value of your employee’s work, and raising your bottom line. Building this workplace takes a combination of useful technology and a savvy plan to use it.

All About Effective Communication

Getting the most out of large investments like workplace communication strategies starts with knowing what you need.

Employees get frustrated when they can’t do their jobs. Many offices, even distributed offices, hinge on open communication principles: open door policies, encouraging feedback, checking others’ work, and more. These principles are impossible to lay as foundation if workers can’t communicate with each other across time zones in real time for organizations that need collaboration from multiple parties in multiple locations.

While a video call platform might be useful for distributed offices, that’s only one example of how technology can improve workplace communication strategies.

Ease of Access

Blocking communications between colleagues so they can’t collaborate is one thing, blocking access to health benefits and retirement savings plans, that’s a different and potentially more serious can of worms.

Employees need to sign up easily for health insurance and other benefits your organization may offer. Again, it’s about return on investment. If you’ve invested in health insurance but the majority of employees don’t bother to see if they’re eligible, what is your ROI?

Sometimes the answer is a cloud-based employee communications platform that can store data and information for employees and employers. Employees can see information about their health plans in an online hub. Creating a system where employees can sign up for benefits from multiple devices is another way to win the hearts of younger workers who may be more prone to flight if they find better prospects elsewhere.

Technology and Planning

If you could mix the most powerful employee communications software ever conceived with a full roadmap that incorporates the new program seamlessly into your communication strategy, you’ll make your employees’ lives easier, which just might finally solve your employee engagement issues.