Human Resources and Mass Notification
When organizations look at mass notification systems, often the only people involved in the conversation are security and IT teams. This may make sense as they will be the people most frequently using and maintaining the system, but for organizations looking to squeeze real value out of implementing a mass notification system, they should look to expand their usage to other departments, such as human resources. Since HR is indirectly tasked with overseeing the well-being of employees, being able to utilize a communication tool that allows them to easily share information with everyone and provide a safe working environment for all offers numerous advantages. In this blog post, we’ll outline four ways human resources can benefit from having access to and using a mass notification system.
Assistance with Violent Employees
One of the most challenging aspects of human resources is terminating employees, and unfortunately, that process does not always go smoothly. If terminated employees or other team members get upset or violent during a conversation with HR, it can be helpful to have a discreet and easy-to-access method for requesting assistance from security personnel.
With a mass notification system, physical or virtual panic buttons, as well as keyboard shortcuts, can be configured to offer a quick, easy, and subtle way for HR to trigger alerts that reach security team members. Messages can be prebuilt with relevant information, and HR can activate alerts prior to a meeting to let security know they should be on standby or during a conversation if things take a turn for the worse. This helps ensure assistance is never far out of reach.
Operational Updates
As the past year has proven, unexpected emergencies can upend typical operations. While decisions about how to proceed in the face of uncertainty will often involve multiple departments and leaders, HR can sometimes be the one communicating new processes and procedures to the staff at large. Mass notification systems make it easy for HR to share all-staff communications via a variety of channels so no one misses a message. Text and audio messages can be sent to on-premises and mobile devices, as well as collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Zoom. This helps people receive messages as quickly as possible and begin taking action to preserve business continuity. This could be notices about health and safety measures to mitigate the spread of a disease or work-from-home alerts due to severe weather. The flexibility mass notification systems offer allows organizations to create and send messages for whatever kind of event they encounter.
Daily Announcements
This flexibility can even extend to daily communications for non-emergency situations. During normal operations, audio and text announcements can be sent out by HR to let people know about a company-wide meeting, the start of a happy hour, or that donuts have arrived in the breakroom. These daily uses help organizations get more value out of their system, provides an unobtrusive means for testing systems regularly, and keep people familiar with the system so they know how to use it should a serious emergency occur.
Keeping Everyone Connected
HR can also help with maintaining a mass notification system so no one misses a message when it matters most. Many mass notification systems allow administrators to upload users via an active directory. HR can gather employee information, like desk and cell phone numbers, email addresses, and more, and see that it gets loaded into the system, so everyone receives notifications when they are triggered. A bulk upload can be performed at the onset of setting up the system, and individual users can be automatically added as they join the team.
The more ways your organization can find to leverage a mass notification system, the more value you’ll get out of it. We’ll be posting additional blogs in the coming weeks detailing all the ways different roles can use a mass notification system so your organization can optimize its safety and communication plans and procedures.