How to simplify your HR software experience for better employee engagement

Becky
Becky Sacks

August 3, 2021

The need for HR software has exploded in recent years. Today, there are more than 1,700 tools and apps that claim to help HR professionals improve employee engagement. The good news is that there’s now healthy competition in the market, so new players are bringing different perspectives and innovation to the space. As a result, there are solutions that fit your needs perfectly to help you support your employees. However, with so many more options and new tools, it can be challenging to select the combination of tools that will not deliver the results you need, but will also provide an engaging experience for your employees.

With dozens of different tools designed for different HR-related tasks (payroll, benefits, engagement, performance reviews, hiring, recognition, and more), it’s easy for employees to get overwhelmed. They likely have to log in to multiple tools and apps — each of which sends them a range of messages and notifications on different channels. Some of these messages may be unimportant, while others are urgent and essential. This can quickly become time-consuming and confusing for your employees.

The core problem is that these tools seldom talk to each other, and all of them have their own way of communicating with your employees. So, how can you make sure your employees receive all of the information they need, when they need it, in a simple and consistent way? Wouldn’t it be nice if your employees had a single place to get answers to all of their questions 24/7 — without even needing to talk to a human?

HR software suites vs. best-in-class HR tools

When trying to consolidate the HR tools communicating to your employees, one option is the all-in-one software suite approach. These are bundled software solutions that are all part of a larger collection of connected tools. Generally, they’re all owned by the same company or operated under an umbrella of partnerships. 

This approach can be ideal for smaller organizations with limited resources, but as you scale, the limitations usually become apparent. The problem is that each individual tool packaged within a suite is generally inferior to the leading standalone solution. Best-in-class HR software is usually more powerful and intuitive than any single counterpart available in a suite. In other words, when you choose a software suite, you’re usually trading quality for convenience. That’s because the companies that make the best-performing HR software don’t need to bundle their products together in a suite. Even if they did, chances are, all of the other top-tier tools you want wouldn’t likely be included in that same package.

Luckily, you don’t have to choose between the best option and the most convenient one. It is possible to use all of the individual products that fit your needs best while also having them each communicate cohesively with your employees.

Mainstay’s Employee Engagement Platform: A centralized and scalable text messaging solution

To fix the communication overload created by multiple best-in-class tools that communicate with employees across different channels, HR professionals need a platform that can centralize everything in a single place. Mainstay makes it easy with automated SMS text messaging. 

When you use Mainstay to support your employees, they’ll receive timely text messages and nudges right on their phones. They can also text their questions to the same number and instantly get pointed to the information they need. The messages they receive will all have the same conversational and approachable voice, so your brand and culture will shine through instead of competing with multiple different systems. The best part is, since Mainstay creates an ongoing SMS text conversation with your employees, they’ll be more likely to actually read them.

Through these conversations, you can remind whole groups of employees or a single individual to take action within any of your HR tools. This is helpful in two ways: First, SMS is a powerful way to remind employees to take action. It’s proven to be effective for getting to complete the tasks they need to do (like signing up for their 401k or enrolling for benefits). Second, rather than sending the employee to hunt through their bookmarks for an individual tool, they can just click a link right in the message.

Cohesive messaging for the entire employee lifecycle

Think of all the stages the average employee goes through at your company. First, they interview. Then, they receive an offer which they sign. Then preboarding, followed by onboarding, followed by their (hopefully) long tenure at your company. Within every one of these stages, there are multiple tools delivering them different information through several channels — and all of them have a different voice and tone than your own brand. It can create a disjointed and overwhelming experience.

Imagine instead if these communications were all funneled through the same communication channel — one that all of your employees are already comfortable using. No matter which HR tool holds the content they need, your employees will simply receive the information through an SMS text message. If they have questions, they can just reply to the message instead of having to track down a member of your team or a support specialist for each isolated tool. With Mainstay’s Employee Engagement Platform every message your employees receive will feel authentic and cohesive throughout their entire time at your company.

Putting it all together

Today’s workforce wants the information they receive to be simple, consistent, and easily accessible. To effectively engage employees, you have to meet their needs and expectations. Frontline workers especially want to have their questions answered without needing to hop from tool to tool — and they need to receive all of their messages in a place to ensure they never miss one. That’s why Mainstay’s Employee Engagement Platform is designed to deliver the best employee experience possible — and to lighten the HR management load in the process. Get a personalized demo to find out what Mainstay can do for your business.

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Mainstay’s behaviorally intelligent chatbots make it easy to engage with students and employees on the channels they prefer to use:

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