Were you one of the unfortunate people stranded in cars or buses on the motorway, or at an airport, with little or no communication about when you’d finally be able to continue on your way?
Were you an employer worried about your staff getting to work, hastily trying to contact them before they left home to warn them about the conditions?
Communication in business can be difficult at the best of times, but in a crisis situation such as we experienced last winter, the challenges are even more significant.
There’s confusion around whether or not to try to get to work, worries over employees putting themselves at risk to get to work for fear of reprisal, and concerns over others using the adverse weather conditions as an excuse for a duvet day.
Our team works with a wide range of organisations in a variety of sectors around the world, so we know that regardless of location, industry or business size, it’s vital to be able to communicate readily, reliably and cost-effectively with employees and customers.
And there’s a simple solution to what can be a business-threatening issue: SMS texting.
91% of the UK population owns a mobile phone and most of them carry their mobile phones at all times, reading the messages they receive as soon as possible. It only takes a few seconds to send a bulk text message to employees, and the messages can be automated, personalised and sent through a mobile phone or by email for utmost ease and flexibility. It’s also very easy to track responses and replies, ensuring an audit trail, should that prove necessary.
So you can see that SMS texting is the perfect channel for urgent messages. When severe weather conditions threaten to disrupt your business, you can quickly and effectively reduce the impact on your company by sending a text to employees advising them to work from home rather than attempt a dangerous journey.
Not only do you ensure business continuity, but more importantly you protect your employees’ safety at the same time.
Scotland has experienced two severe winters in a row, last year’s was the worst in several decades, and this year doesn’t look like being any milder.
So follow our blogs for the rest of the week and pick up our top tips for preparing your business, your employees and your customers for a tough winter.
We’ll tell you about planning, health and safety, technology for home working and cover the legalities of entitlement to time off if the weather is too dangerous for travel.
visit us at:
http://www.linkedin.com/company/hay-systems-ltd
follow us on Twitter @HSLSMS
or call us on +44 (0)1506 605 260
or email us at sales@haysystems.com
Tomorrow – planning, flexibility and health and safety.
