SMS Employee Communications

Incorporating SMS for HR into your communication strategy offers a sanctioned route for your business and staff to stay connected using a preferred messaging channel. The benefits of using text messages to communicate with employees for human resources and people operations teams include:

• Instant and Direct Communication
• Boosting Employee Engagement
• Expanding Recruitment Efforts
• Streamlining Onboarding
• Saving Time During Open Enrollment Periods
• Conducting Employee Polls and Quizzes
• Meeting More Deadlines with Timely Staff Reminders

Yes, using SMS for HR applications is legal, but there are a few things to be aware of, including:

• Compliance with Privacy Laws — This includes complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). People ops teams must obtain consent from employees before sending them SMS messages, and they must only use SMS for legitimate business purposes.
• Compliance with Employment Laws — HR departments must comply with all applicable employment laws when using SMS, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
• Liability for Harassment and Discrimination — People Ops departments can be held liable if a company SMS account is used to send messages that are harassing or discriminatory. This means that SMS requires the same careful attention to messaging as emails or internal documentation. SMS messages must not be used to target employees based on race, gender, religion, or other protected characteristics.

In the end communicating with employees via SMS is the same as communicating via any other channel — follow the rules and keep your messaging on point and everything will come up roses.

SMS employee communication enables People Operations teams to communicate essential HR-related information, such as:

• Emergency alerts
• Personalized and Targeted Messaging
• Weather and Safety Alerts
• Onboarding and orientation
• Policy and procedure updates
• Benefits enrollment and updates
• Shift Scheduling and Changes
• Employee Engagement Campaigns
• Fast Polls, Quizzes, and Surveys
• Sending Special Recognition and Awards
• Training and Development Reminders

Setting up a new employee notification system with EZ Texting for your HR team is easy.

• First, start your 14-day trial to send your first message.
• Once you become a member you can upload a list of opted-in contacts, or start growing your list using our helpful tools and tips.
• Familiarize yourself with some SMS best practices to make sure your messages are meaningful, or use one of our pre-written message templates to get you started.

For more about taking your first steps with EZ Texting, visit our Getting Started page.

Yes! The speed, engagement, and convenience of texting employees everything from onboarding documents to enrollment reminders makes sense for both HR teams and employees, a growing number of which prefer to communicate via SMS.

HR and people operations teams can use SMS to communicate better with employees. Here’s how:

• Expand and enhance recruitment efforts with a mobile-first campaign.
• Streamline onboarding with links to important paperwork and timely reminders.
• Take the stress out of staff scheduling and dispatch with fast response times.
• Keep your teams safe with instant SMS messaging that won’t go unnoticed.
• Quickly notify employees of changes to schedules, events, and building maintenance.
• Make open enrollment periods a breeze with document sharing and deadline reminders.