Using Chatbots To Improve the Employee Experience
By Amanda Feliu,
Director - Communications Strategy and Editorial
October 9, 2020
“How do I change my 401K contribution?” It’s a common question. In fact, it’s a question my husband had recently. After asking a half dozen colleagues and aimlessly surfing his company’s intranet, he resorted to calling the plan administrator. After waiting on hold for fifteen minutes, the call got disconnected.
This was incredibly frustrating and we still don’t have the answer to his question! Unfortunately, my husband isn’t alone in his experience. Often, employees find it difficult to locate the information they need within their organizations.
Enter the chatbot. Here are some ideas for how – and why – internal communicators should be using chatbots to improve the employee experience.
Rolling out the welcome mat for employees
Starting a new job is exciting, but it also comes with challenges. Depending on the size of the company, being a new hire can be downright overwhelming! Using a chatbot for employee onboarding and orientation purposes can help new employees feel supported when they have questions. The chatbot can automate the onboarding process, ensuring employees have completed important forms, while also supplying links to training materials and related policies.
The best part? Employees will have easy access to everything they need to know right away, and they won’t feel alone in the process. Once employees have been fully onboarded, the chatbot can link to the company’s ongoing learning and development programs. This can further establish the employee as part of the company and strengthen their skills.
Simplifying support
Chatbots can function as a “self service,” interactive FAQ when employees are searching for important HR information they need quickly – such as benefits. Automating HR information not only improves the employees’ experience, but it then allows the HR team to focus their time and energy on more strategic, higher-order initiatives.
The same holds true for other support functions such as IT or facilities management. Need help to reset a password? Looking for information on the cafeteria menu? Or need to report a building maintenance issue? Try using a chatbot for any question or request that doesn’t require human intervention immediately. The employee will get results on the spot without having to expend other resources. And if an issue needs to be escalated and handed off to a human, the chatbot can do that, too.
Enabling push and pull communications
Chatbots can help provide focused information on specific topics. One SPI Group client currently uses a chatbot feature to help field COVID-related questions on their intranet. Employees with concerns about returning to work can browse frequently asked questions via the bot or ask a new question. The bot serves up answers and points them in the right direction on the internal COVID microsite for employees.
Most people think of chatbots as technology that people “pull” information from – asking a question and getting an answer. But chatbots can also be used to “push” communications and then engage the employee further. For example, chatbots can send reminders on open enrollment and ask if help is needed. Or, perhaps the chatbot could send a reminder for an upcoming town hall, and ask if the employee plans to attend. After the town hall, the chatbot could be used to collect feedback on the event from participants.
Think of any situation where you want to let employees know something and then take action. Chances are, a chatbot is an efficient, effective channel to use! Don’t be afraid to think outside the box – or in this case, the chat bubble – when it comes to internal communications.
