We’ve previously discussed how payroll teams use electronic payslips portals as internal communication methods to enhance employee engagement.
In addition to simply delivering payslips and other pay-related documents, online payroll portals support multichannel employee communications.
These tools can help organisations overcome communication barriers and improve the employee experience. Consequently, technology facilitates better employee dialogue to address issues before they become problematic.
In this blog, we will cover the following:
- What causes poor employee engagement
- How organisations can use technology to enhance employee interaction
- Tools to deliver multichannel employee communications
- Types of documents you can share through Epay
Employee engagement in organisations
According to research, employee engagement levels in the UK score one of the worst in Europe. Just 9% of UK workers surveyed for Gallup’s report felt enthusiastic about their job and workplace in 2022. The average in Europe is 14%.
Pa Sinyan from Gallup said: “Leaders can improve employee engagement and wellbeing by enabling frontline managers to understand their people better, including how they feel about life outside of work, and helping them focus on what they do best in the work environment.”
Only 9% of UK workers surveyed felt enthusiastic about their job and workplace in 2022.
What causes poor employee engagement in organisations?
Organisation culture has a big impact on employee well-being.
The most common factors affecting employee engagement include the following:
Poor communication between leaders and departments
- Poor leadership and support from managers
- Inadequate technology
- Lacking flexibility and work-life balance
- Ineffective reward and recognition processes
Poor communication between leaders and departments
When employees are unsure about what is happening in an organisation, their engagement levels can drop. Uncertainty breeds worry; very quickly, entire teams can feel unsettled and dissatisfied within the workplace.
In particular, with the rise of remote working, communication gaps between peers and leaders can feel much wider.
60% of people feel less connected to colleagues regarding hybrid working.
Why is employee engagement important?
Regular and efficient communication between key stakeholders within an organisation structure can significantly improve overall morale and motivation.
Motivated employees are more productive in the workplace and committed to their responsibilities. The output of a satisfied, rewarded employee is diligence and better customer service both internally and externally.
On the other hand, a less engaged colleague is more likely to seek a new role, take an absence or experience stress. Combined with the effect on others in the same teams, staff turnover and being short-staffed, managers will also feel extra costs and recruitment needs.
How do large companies communicate with their employees
In previous years, internal news was communicated via printed documents for central noticeboards, desk drops, pigeon holes or handouts. Or if it was generic, the news could be emailed. Likewise, payslips were delivered by hand.
Today, with a more dispersed workforce, postal delays and flexible working patterns, printed documents aren’t effective. Producing and mailing employee documents is time-consuming, costly, and distracts from other higher-value tasks.
Nevertheless, communicating information that affects employees is critical, and a paperless office isn’t possible under all conditions.
How to engage employees
Regular updates from managers and the C-suite about performance, direction or the macro-environment can reassure staff and minimise concerns.
Internal communications create a dialogue between teams but lead to increased administrative workload – particularly for payroll and HR teams.
Typical tools to make communication a priority with employees:
- Internal intranets
- Self-service HR portals
- Payslip portals
- Internal newsletters
- Internal chat systems
- Regular and casual team meetings – in-person and online
- Collaborative working projects
The key to developing a successful internal communication strategy is to find the most effective tools and techniques for employee engagement.
Employee engagement techniques
Forward-thinking organisations realise the benefits of using proven software solutions to facilitate multichannel employee communications.
Payroll software can be used as a communications tool. The platforms capture a wealth of employee data to pay people accurately and on time.
Document automation technology goes one step further to use data to create and distribute employee documents across digital and print channels.
Online payroll portals, like our Epay solution, reduce the manual workload and simplify effective internal communications. Documents can be shared within seconds, saving time, effort and costs in hand-delivering or mailing communications.
Employees can easily access payroll and HR information, including payslips, P60s, reward statements and pension documents. They can choose whether they view it on a mobile, work computer or as printed documents in the post.
Internal communication tools to enhance employee engagement
An organisation can deliver pay information in many ways, e.g. through an intranet, web portal, mobile app or paper format.
Whichever route is chosen, payslips should not be overlooked as a method of internal communication to engage with employees regularly. Staff generally open their payslips, so there’s a high probability they will read any accompanying messages. For example, salary changes, benefits, onboarding or sharing company updates.
Therefore, weekly or monthly pay cycles can offer an additional way to inform and interact with teams.
Employee communications software can enhance employee engagement by delivering payroll information and other documents as an internal communication method.
What can you share through a secure online payslips portal?
Epay functionality can be used to communicate a range of documents besides payslips.
Clients regularly share:
- Rewards statements
- Bonus, benefits and review letters
- Group and divisional messaging
- Company documents, terms and conditions and handbooks
- Links to other benefit sites
- Employee surveys to collect opinions or preferences
Each document offers a touchpoint encouraging two-way communication between departments and the workforce.
Client, Transport for London told us they use Epay via single sign-on (SSO) through their employee benefits portal to help staff find their payslips and drive traffic to the benefits website.
Final thoughts
Switching to a cloud-based secure payslips portal allows employees better access to their documents and a more effective internal communication tool. With a better-informed team, satisfaction and staff engagement are higher.
For business, payslips technology saves costs and time and reduces workload.
Overall, engaged colleagues, more efficient processes and better communication are key to running effective teams within an organisation.
For more information about using online payslips portals for internal communications, please don’t hesitate to contact us and request a demo.
