Unlockdown: How internal comms can offer reassurance

Offices around the globe are slowing reopening following weeks of uncertainty. As colleagues are returning to work, they may feel stressed or anxious over how their workplace has changed.

So as an internal comms rep you may want to communicate some subtle reassurance through your Intranet or other communications sent to staff.

So for Digital Assistant customers we have developed a pack of Cards that can be installed in your Digital Assistant which should help you communicate safety advice in a factual but relaxed manner.

Pack 1: Stay safe at work

These Cards are aimed at giving employees actual advice about how they should conduct themselves at work. We use real models to make the Cards instantaneously relatable.

Reading optional: The big pictures make the information instantly digestible without sounding alarming

Pack 2: Work is a safe environment

Your workplace may have had to introduce some measures to accommodate the changes necessary for social distancing; some may be visible and some not. So this next set of Cards is a selection of things could let staff know about, so they feel safer at work.

These Cards are using colorful icons as it's a little more light-hearted and makes the information seem a little more like a "service," and less like a health and safety issue.

Easy to scan information that proactively communicate changes made to the workplace

These Cards may need to be changed by you and they're easy to customize, for example like this:

Pack 3: Dealing with questions

The most pressing issue to deal with employees that are feeling unwell whilst at work. The Assistant should be able to offer instant, relevant advice that ensures staff safety. Users that enquire about Coronavirus, may be given this as an answer:

But there is really a barrage of questions that the Assistant may get requests for by staff, for example:

• How to get support to work from home, i.e. request company laptop, grant for office equipment, issuing a VPN token, etc.

• Under what circumstances can one stay home?

• Do you need to self-isolate if someone in your household develops symptoms?

• Is there a test facility at work?

• How will management communicate should the office suddenly have to close?

• Is there guidance how one should communicate with customers or other stakeholders?

I'm sure if you're working in internal comms or HR, you will have gotten loads more of these over the past couple of weeks. So it's definitely a good idea to add this knowledge to the Assistant.

How to get these Cards

If you're a new or existing Digital Assistant customer, even on the Free plan, you can simply add these Cards to your Assistant here: Add this to Digital Assistant.

Don't forget to also embed Cards into your Intranet, like SharePoint, or add the necessary chatbots to Slack or MS Teams.