If you need to reach your frontline or on-the-ground employees fast, email might not always be the best option. Use SMS employee communications to quickly connect with your employees using our text message templates.
Many businesses rely on a decentralized workforce; employees who work onsite, on the frontline, or within locations other than an office. This presents a unique challenge for internal communicators who rely on email to reach their employees.
With the popularity of mobile devices, internal communicators can leverage SMS communications to fill gaps in their internal communications approach. We analyze the many uses of SMS employee communications and provide ready-to-use templates for employee text messages.
What is SMS Employee Communication
SMS employee communication is an internal communications approach that relies on text messages to reach employees who do not have easy access to email-enabled devices. If many or all of your employees work outside the office, SMS employee communications are a powerful resource to add to your internal communications strategy.
Why use SMS employee communications
Employee SMS messages are an effective way to quickly convey important information to your employees. Rather than requiring employees to check their email inbox, SMS messages often appear directly on the screen of your employees’ mobile devices and alert them when there’s a new messages
Aside from being faster than email, SMS messages that follow proper business texting etiquette are short and to the point. The information they convey can be quickly consumed, which makes them perfect for sending sudden mass text alerts or emergency text messages.
Read our blog on the importance of internal communication and learn how to get team buy-in for effective digital employee communication solutions.
SMS Text Message Templates for Employee Communication
SMS employee communications are useful for myriad purposes. We’ll examine some of the many business uses for employee text messages, and provide text templates that you can customize and use for your own business.
Looking for a better way to incorporate SMS messages into your company’s internal communications? ContactMonkey’s SMS message features make it super easy to send custom-made text messages directly to your employees’ mobile phones—all from the same platform you manage your Outlook and Gmail newsletter templates and internal communications.
IT and security alerts
IT security is a top priority for businesses and with good reason: even a small breach in your IT infrastructure can cause untold damage to your business. Even the most vigilant employees can be susceptible to security breaches and exploits. When this happens, the faster your IT team can react the better chance you have at limiting the damage.
Use SMS employee text messages as part of an emergency mass notification system to quickly alert your workforce to possible IT security threats. Text messages are by far the most effective means to communicate this information to your employees, as they’ll receive a notification and description of the issue immediately.
Here is an example internal communications template for alerting your employees to a phishing email sent to your business’ contact list:
IT SECURITY ALERT: We’ve been notified that an email from [sender’s email address] is fraudulent. DO NOT open this email if it appears in your inbox. Delete it immediately and contact our IT department to inform them of the email.
For IT security alerts, brevity is key. Keep the message restricted to just the crucial information, so your employees can quickly scan the message, understand the instructions, and act accordingly. This small step can save you untold amounts of time and money in preventing IT security threats.
Crisis communication
Emergencies can happen at any time and any place, and it’s the responsibility of internal communicators to keep employees informed when an emergency can affect them.
Using SMS messages, your business can quickly alert employees to a sudden emergency and share instructions for their safety. The following text message template follows a similar format to the IT security alert: inform the employee about the emergency, communicate immediate instructions, and share follow-up actions to be taken:
EMERGENCY ALERT: A [emergency or threat] has been detected at [your employees’ workplace or location]. EXIT the location using our emergency protocol. You will receive a follow-up message when it is safe to re-enter the location.
This is just one of the many examples of how text messages can be used for crisis communications. We recommend creating a library of emergency text message templates so you can quickly react whenever an incident affecting your employees occurs.
Event reminders
While employee text messages are most useful for alerting employees to issues that can affect their safety or the safety of the business, they can also be used for less-urgent notifications as well.
If you’re hosting an important event and want to ensure that your employees attend, sending a reminder SMS message is a great way to boost employee engagement and attendance. Here is a simple text message template for reminding employees of an upcoming event:
REMINDER: On [date], we’ll be hosting a company-wide [event] and your attendance is highly encouraged. The [event] begins at [time], and is being held at our [venue or location]. We hope to see you there!
Feel free to adjust the urgency of this message according to the importance of the event. For example, mention if attendance is mandatory or whether employees need to bring/prepare anything prior to the event. If you are using your email system for employee event management, you can include a link to your event RSVP for your employees to fill out.
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Shift scheduling
However your business schedules shifts your employees, there will inevitably be situations where scheduling changes last minute. SMS messages can be vital for informing employees of their latest shift schedules and whether or not they need to come into work that day or week:
SHIFT UPDATE: We have updated our shift schedule for the week of [date]. Please check the company website for the full details of our updated schedule. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your manager at [manager’s phone number or email address].
Using ContactMonkey’s SMS messaging features, you can select which CSVs you send your SMS messages to. This means you can compose department-specific shift updates for your employees to better inform them of their latest schedules.
Optimize SMS communications with these text messaging services for business.
Employee onboarding resources
Starting at a new company can be an overwhelming experience for many employees. That’s why crafting an effective employee onboarding procedure is a crucial component of your overall employee engagement strategy.
Send a text message to new employees summarizing the onboarding resources they’ll need to succeed during their first week or month on the job:
Hi there! We hope you’re finding everything you need while starting out at [company]. If you need any clarification on your tasks or responsibilities, don’t hesitate to contact [manager name]. In the meantime, here are some valuable resources to help you better understand your role at [company]:
Titles of/Links to employee resources
These types of messages can help your new employees stay on top of the wave of information they’re faced with when starting at a new company. And this message can serve as a useful reference for whenever your new employees need to consult their onboarding resources—like guides or employee handbooks.
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Weather alerts
For employees that work outdoors, weather can make a huge difference for their ability to perform their jobs. Internal communicators responsible for keeping outdoor-working employees informed should alert their workforce whenever there is weather that will affect their working conditions.
In addition to alerting employees to current and forecasted weather, weather alerts can include instructions for what to do in the meantime and what to do if weather subsides:
WEATHER UPDATE: We are aware that employees at [location] will experience severe thunderstorms for the next 3-5 hours. During this time employees are instructed to remain inside [vehicles or other shelters] until the extreme weather ceases. We will send an update with updated information if the forecast changes.
Depending on the type of weather your employees are likely to experience at their workplaces, we recommend creating multiple templates describing the proper actions they should take to mitigate the situation. This way you can send out your SMS employee messages as fast as possible to prioritize your employees’ safety.
Employee recognition
A huge part of your employee engagement strategy is employee recognition. Identifying and praising the good work of your employees helps them feel pride in their work and encourages extra effort in the future.
While your employee recognition ideas should feature a number of different actions, sending your employees a brief text message congratulating them on their recent achievements is a nice way to show that they’re appreciated.
To view the employee recognition text message template, along with numerous other templates, download ContactMonkey’s free SMS Employee Communication Templates Guide.
HR training and policy updates
If you’re updating your HR policy or require new training for your employees, it’s important to inform them right away to signal the importance of the update.
Your SMS employee communications can be used as a quick summary for HR updates. Send text messages to the sections of employees that will be affected by the changes, and encourage them to consult the full documentation regarding the update.
You can even provide a link to a full explanation of the changes. If you’re providing training for your employees as part of your policy updates, include the times and locations for the training so employees can schedule their time accordingly.
To view the HR policy and training template, along with numerous other templates, download ContactMonkey’s free SMS Employee Communication Templates Guide.
Send SMS Employee Communications with ContactMonkey
As we mentioned before, you can use ContactMonkey to compose and send SMS messages from your Outlook or Gmail inbox. Just like your internal emails, you can send text messages to distribution lists to target only the employees who require the message.
After you’ve drafted and sent your messages, you can view SMS analytics within ContactMonkey:
Here you can see how your SMS messages have performed so you can get an idea of how many employees were reached. If you notice a certain kind of message getting more engagement than others, use that insight to craft more effective messages in the future.
Discover more ways you can use ContactMonkey to enhance your internal communications and boost employee engagement.
Reach Your Employees Wherever They Are
One of the main advantages of SMS employee communication is their speed. Text messages sent directly to employees’ phones get important information to them faster than any other internal communication channel. Using text message templates greatly contributes to your ability to respond quickly to whatever issue is facing your business. Not to mention, it’s the best way to ensure frontline employee engagement.
With ContactMonkey, your SMS communications are just as easy to send as your email internal communications. Quickly send messages to your distribution lists and gather metrics to measure the performance of your employee texts. And be sure to check out our SMS compliance checklist to ensure your employee text messages are sent legally.
Want to add SMS messages to your internal communications approach? Book a free demo to see how ContactMonkey’s SMS features can help you reach your out-of-office employees faster than ever.
