Sep 2021
24
Harness the power of phone notifications for employee communications
Push notifications are 7 times more likely to be opened than an email. This high ‘open rate’ has meant marketers have been utilising them as an important communication tool for a number of years. Now, employers and HR departments are examining how this marketing trend can be used to engage employees.
What are push notifications?
Recent research carried out in the UK has shown that 25% of smartphone users have between 11 and 20 apps on their phone, and 24% have 31 or more. With potentially dozens of apps on a user’s smartphone, it has become increasingly difficult to engage them.
Push notifications are short messages or alerts sent by an app or website to a user’s phone or desktop in real-time. They ‘pop-up’ on the screen, prompting the user to take some action. The messages can be personalised and can contain images, GIFs or video. They don’t deliver the primary message, but rather give an instruction to the user. The notifications are very effective; they engage users and encourage action.
How can employers use them?
Employers and HR departments can use push notifications to send important information to employees, anytime and anywhere. For example, BrightPay Connect customers commonly use the push notifications feature to notify employees of their latest payslip, Health & Safety updates, changes to the employee handbook, and even to direct them to the latest company newsletter.
How does BrightPay Connect harness the power of push notifications?
BrightPay Connect is an optional cloud add-on that works with BrightPay’s desktop payroll software. It is primarily focused on improving payroll workflows by automating tasks to save a business significant time, but its functionality also offers employers a ready-to-go, easy-to-use HR software solution.
With BrightPay Connect, employers and employees have their own self-service app which can be accessed by a web browser or by the app. Using the calendar feature on the app, employees can easily manage their annual leave, view how much they’ve already taken, how much is left, and can make leave requests, which are sent to their manager. The push notification then alerts employees of whether or not their request for leave has been approved.
Notifying employees of important changes:
The push notification is used to alert individuals, teams, or the whole company that a new document has been shared to their self-service portal. The HR team can share with an employee their contract of employment, their performance review, training records and other confidential information. To the wider company, they can share the company handbook and return-to-work procedures including the company’s social distancing and COVID-19 policies.
Additionally, the app’s activity log allows managers and HR to keep track of who has viewed documents and who has not. This can be significantly helpful to employers who are legally required to provide employees with certain documents.
Push notifications can be used to help ensure important messages are not missed. With overflowing inboxes, employees are more likely to click on these alerts and remain updated on any company news.
To learn more about BrightPay Connect and how it can help your business, book a demo to speak to a member of our team.
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