When you need to communicate new information to employees, it might seem easy to just type up a quick email and send it to everyone in the company. What happens, though, if multiple employees have specific, individual questions and hit ‘reply’? Worse, what happens when they click ‘reply all’ and clutter everyone else’s inboxes? What happens when other employees return to their desks, see the long email chain and automatically delete it without reading your original email?
A policy management system isn’t just about managing the policies and procedures workflow — it’s about finding better, more efficient and easier ways to communicate and share information with your employees.
According to one survey, 41% of companies list that the most common mistake made when managing employees is the lack of communication between staff and management, while another 11% cite the lack of training and/or educational opportunities. Both of these issues can be easily addressed with a policy management system.
Here are five ways a policy management system improves internal communications:
- Reduces internal emails – no longer do people have to follow long email chains, where sometimes they’re added to the conversation late in the game, or accidentally left off when someone hits ‘reply’ instead of ‘reply all.’ Instead, a policy management system will automate custom workflows, ensuring the correct people are notified when a task is upcoming or due. The system also offers real-time dashboards, so you no longer have to send emails checking on the progress or status of a document, and can instead pull ad hoc reports.
- Ensures the right people only receive the right documents at the right point in the process –now, employees don’t have to wonder if they’re cc’d on an email just for reference, if they’re expected to read and respond or if they’re supposed to not get involved and add their comments until later in the process. Again, custom workflows notify people when they have a role in the document process.
- Stores all documents in one place – set up employees for success at their jobs by making must-know, evergreen information conveniently accessible. Documenting a policy or procedure once prevents redundancy (which wastes time and resources) and eliminates confusion. Also prevent employees from viewing and referencing incorrect information, such as outdated or unapproved documents.
- Automatically distributes information to corresponding employees – easily share documents with all or groups of employees at once, and control permissions to the documents (which can be organized by type, department, etc.) so employees see only the information that pertains to them.
- Ensures employees not just receive but also read and acknowledge documents – eliminate follow-up and reminder emails that ask if employees have received and read new information by relying on a policy management system’s acknowledgement tool. An acknowledgement tool also enables you to test your employees on what they’ve read by sending custom quizzes.
By opening the lines of communication and finding better ways to share information, you help employees understand their role in the business, which in turn, motivates them to work harder (and smarter) for the company.
Learn more about how to open the lines of communication with your employees and ensure accountability and compliance by checking out the How-To Guide: Ensure Employee Accountability Compliance.
