Building better AU: 1300 884 510 connections NZ: 0800 884 510 @ELMO_Software Using internal to @elmo-software enhance employee engagement @ELMOSoftware A guide to developing effective internal communications throughout the employee lifecycle Contents 03 04 07 Introduction The different Internal types of internal communications communications and employee engagement

10 13 16 Internal Employee HR and the internal communications communications communications are changing at all function of the employee lifecycle

18 21 23 Technology is Key take-aways How ELMO can help changing the game

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Introduction Internal communications (IC) have never been But where does the responsibility for IC lie? more important. As workplaces across the Regardless of whether or not an organisation world have faced disruption of unprecedented has a dedicated IC team, it’s likely that HR magnitude, the IC function has played a pivotal had to be closely involved in the function role in helping organisations to cope – both during COVID-19 all the same – and in fact, with keeping themselves afloat, and with this has built a case for the two functions to keeping their employees safe in the process. work in closer partnership in the future. It certainly makes sense: if a key objective of As employees across the world grappled with internal communications is to keep employees prolonged uncertainty, feelings of stress and engaged, then who better to involve than anxiety abounded – and more than ever, the most people-centric department of the they craved transparency, guidance, and help organisation? with making sense of what was happening around them. Indeed, the appetite for regular Concentrating on employee engagement at work was apparent, with can help organisations withstand, and even 63% of employees desiring daily updates, thrive, in uncertain times. But it doesn’t stop and 20% wishing to receive communications there: employee engagement must be a focus several times a day.1 One survey found that through the good times and the bad – and at during COVID-19, 40% of organisations set up all touchpoints of the employee lifecycle. additional virtual check-ins for employees with This eBook discusses the evolving role of managers and 32% introduced new tools for IC as a function and as a responsibility, its virtual meetings.2 importance in driving employee engagement, It’s clear that internal communications have and how having the right tools and become increasingly critical and will continue technology in place can help to make internal to be so as we enter a new, reimagined and communications more streamlined, consistent increasingly remote era of work. and effective.

1. Edelman, Edelman trust barometer 2020 special report: Trust and the coronavirus, 2020 2. Gartner, “HR survey reveals 88% of have encouraged or required employees to work from home due to coronavirus”, March 2020

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The different types of internal communications

Before we dive into the importance of internal communications and its best practice, let’s begin by defining what the function is.

The IC function – in the traditional sense – refers to the crafting and delivery of messages and campaigns on behalf of management, as well as facilitating a dialogue with the people who make up an organisation. This can mean anything from announcing a new policy or informing people of an upcoming event, to conducting a company-wide engagement or culture audit. As a function, IC can ‘belong’ to different departments, depending on the size of an organisation. While larger organisations may have a dedicated IC team, smaller entities often rely on the HR department to circulate this information.

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Internal communications exist to keep employees informed and to reinforce culture and values – promoting employee advocacy and engagement. Contrary to what has historically been the case, internal communications can flow in multiple directions – downward, upward and laterally – and in fact, this trend has been on the rise and even propelled by COVID-19 and the resulting remote working trend.

Rather than internal communications being used as a corporate mouthpiece to distribute organisational messages, today it is seen as a means of enabling communication between employees – to empower them to communicate with one another.

Below is an overview of the different types of communications:

Leadership generated: Examples of this could be messaging around Often viewed as the traditional, core role of a restructure, a merger or acquisition (M&A), internal communications, this refers to the flow of the opening of a new office, or updates to an information from the top down. It covers things organisation’s products or services – or as like formal announcements, progress reports, recently seen, changes to operations in events corporate overviews, and business updates. like COVID-19.

Employee generated: Peer-to-peer: This type of communication encompasses Also known as lateral internal communications, communication that travels from employees to peer-to-peer communication focuses managers, all the way up to executive level. Some on connecting employees to one another, examples of this are workplace pulse surveys, either on an individual or inter-departmental suggestion boxes, or polls. basis.

Change management: Information delivery: Arguably one of the most difficult forms of This refers to the nuts and bolts of organisational internal communications, change management communication, covering items such as legal communications revolve around any kind requirements, brand positioning, HR policies and of change. procedures, and training tools.

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Goals of internal communications Communication In the post-trust, ‘fake news’ era in which disinformation is directions rife, employees more than ever seek regular communication from their employer. Regular communication on an approved channel, such as or an IT-sanctioned instant messaging platform, ensures consistent messaging that reaches all Direct team employees, leaving no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation. 1 communication Internal communications serve to keep employees informed, motivated, and engaged with the employer brand and culture, while also creating a channel for feedback and discussion.

P Promote employee loyalty P Enable and promote Cross-team dialogue, feedback, and P Strengthen the 2 communication participation communications skills of employees P Support knowledge transfer

P Create an understanding of P Establish and promote the big picture (corporate corporate identity and Top-down goals, strategies, processes, design in the organisation communication 3 and decisions) P Support managers in P Communicate and reinforce their communication with values, employer brand or employees culture P Make employees Bottom-up 4 communication P Express appreciation and ambassadors for an increase motivation organisation

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Internal communications and employee engagement

Gallup defines engaged employees as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace – and the importance of this cannot be overstated. As the data on the following pages illustrates, organisations whose employees are highly engaged have more productive employees, lower absenteeism, and higher profits.

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According to research...

% How much more % The difference in % How much higher 21 profitable an 18 productivity seen 37 absenteeism rates organisation is if between the top and are in organisations its employees are bottom performing scoring in the highly engaged3 employee bottom 25% on engagement engagement4 quartiles4

Despite the proven link between engaged employees and improved business outcomes, research suggests employers are yet to take employee engagement seriously.

% of employers only % do so monthly or % do not formally 74 measure employee 8 more frequently5 18 measure engagement engagement at all5 annually5

There are many ingredients when it comes to creating an engaged workforce. But one essential factor is open, transparent communication, without which, employees can grow frustrated – creating a breeding ground of distrust and confusion. If workers don't have good lines of communication with each other and management, or don't feel like they're being heard, this can have a negative impact on their loyalty and commitment to the organisation.

Great communication, on the other hand, is the foundation of every productive relationship. Open communication helps employees feel valued. Feeling valued means employees will be more engaged and more likely to act as ambassadors for their organisation. Not only does this work wonders for an employer brand, it also has a significant bearing on business outcomes.

3. Gallup, “Employee engagement in the US”, 2018 4. Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L. & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279 5. Deloitte, Global Human Capital Trends, 2019

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According to research... How much more % The percentage of % The percentage of 4.6x likely employees are 89 HR leaders who 56 HR leaders who to feel empowered agree ongoing cite employee to perform their peer feedback communications best work if their and check-ins are as being a top voices are heard6 key for successful challenge during outcomes7 COVID-198

However, research also shows the communications programs of many companies leave a lot to be desired and can potentially have a detrimental impact on employee engagement levels (see box below).

Internal communications P 60% of companies don’t P 66% of surveyed employees P 27% of employees who plan have a long-term internal “waste too much time” to leave within the first year communication strategy9 looking for important cite feeling "disconnected" company information12 to the organisation14 P 1/3 of employees don’t believe leaders understand P 86% of employees and P 13% of employees use their the value of internal executives cite lack of intranets on a daily basis, communications10 collaboration or ineffective while 31% admit to having communication for never used it15 P 74% of employees feel workplace failures13 that they’re missing out on company information and news11

6. Salesforce, “The impact of equality and values driven business”, 2017 7. Forbes, “10 timely statistics about the connection between employee engagement and wellness”, 2019 8. Aon Study cited in HRD, “Covid-19 HR’s main challenges revealed”, April 2020 9. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. study, “Rethinking the role of internal communications”, 2018 10. IC Kollectif, “The next level global report: The business value of good internal communication”, September 2018 11. Gallup, “Companies are missing opportunities for growth and revenue”, 2015 12. Dynamic Signal, “State of employee communication and engagement report”, 2018 13. Salesforce, 2012 14. LinkedIn article, “Employees stay when they are…”, 2015 15. Prescient Digital Media survey, 2017

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Internal communications are changing

The complex nature of COVID-19 messaging – together with the challenge of communicating it in a distributed environment – presented the case for more professional, sophisticated, and well-resourced internal communications, as well as the need for more channels through which to deliver them. Digital channels that were already gaining momentum before the pandemic – such as Slack – became essential during it, allowing a multi-directional flow of communications. Over the following pages are seven factors changing the nature of internal communications.

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1. More complex messaging due to COVID-19 accessed anytime, anywhere becoming critical The global health pandemic required the in a distributed workforce. IC function to become more sophisticated, • 62% of IT leaders are considering professional, and consistent to successfully downsizing physical IT infrastructure and convey the more complex messaging of transitioning to a cloud model18 COVID-19. A theme of ‘creativity by necessity’ arose, as leaders were having to be more • 44% are looking to public cloud services to resourceful with how they communicated facilitate long-term remote working18 important messages. Where were once sufficient to communicate important With this transformation came the increasing information, during COVID-19 they did not digitalisation of the IC function, which cut it. Instant messaging platforms, portals, became vital for delivering mission-critical video conferencing, and regular pulse communications. Instant messaging channels surveys were critical tools and will proved to be the most effective for delivering continue to be so in the rebuild phase. important communications. According to research, interactive messages delivered via 2. The growing importance of employee chat apps or SMS were 44 times more effective engagement than email in prompting people to take action Employee engagement is gaining recognition during COVID-19.19 On the other hand, only as a key component of business success. 13% of employees use their intranets on a Today, there is a significant body of research daily basis, while 31% admitted to having never supporting its link to positive business used it. outcomes. However, a key building block of employee engagement must first be in place: 4. An increasingly remote-first workforce strong internal communications. Just as IC The rapid large-scale shift towards remote played a key role in keeping employees engaged working made it the new norm – and this during COVID-19, it will continue to do so as is likely to continue post-pandemic. In fact, organisations move towards rebuild phase. according to Gartner, nearly half (48%) of employees will continue to work remotely In fact, research by Gartner found that 64% beyond COVID-19.20 This will have a of HR leaders plan to prioritise employee transformative effect on the IC function, with experience more highly in the recovery phase communications being delivered almost entirely than before the outbreak.16 through digital formats to cater for a hybrid workforce based at home and on-premise. 3. Digital transformation Digital transformation projects that once took years are now taking place in a matter of months or even days. According to research, 97% of executives believe the pandemic sped up their digital transformation, and 79% said it increased budgets for such projects to occur.17

The uptake of cloud technology became a major focus of many digital transformation projects, with the need for information to be

17. Forbes, “97% of executives say COVID-19 sped up digital transformation”, 2020 18. Citrix survey, 2020 19. HRD, “What’s the most effective COVID-19 communications?”, April 2020 20. Gartner, Future of Work Trends Post-COVID-19, 2020

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6. Democratisation of internal communications Largely driven by the explosion of internal communications channels is the democratisation of internal communications. These channels have empowered employees by encouraging employee-to- employee communication and breaking down inter-departmental silos. Rather than communications flowing predominantly from the top-down, they can more easily flow in different directions, giving everyone a voice.

The channel portfolio of internal communication

P Slack (or equivalent) P Internal

P Zoom (or equivalent) P

P Surveys P Employee apps 5. The explosion of communication and collaboration channels P Employee meetings P Newsletter The explosion of professional communication P P and collaboration channels – often described as Intranet/staff portals Employee newspaper (digital) the ‘consumerisation’ of workplace technology P One-to-one – has largely been driven by Millennials and Gen-Zs, who make up a significant portion of the workforce. In fact, figures estimate that 7.Automation of engagement in Australia alone, Millennials will comprise Many organisations are looking to technology to almost 75% of the workforce by 2025.21 It is assist them with their internal communications these ‘digital-first’ generations used to constant and employee engagement efforts. Employee communication and feedback that expect the engagement technology will never be able same levels of technological sophistication to fully replace face-to-face communications at work as in their personal lives. It's not when it comes to maintaining an engaged surprising, therefore, that 79% of Australian workforce. However, using HR technology helps CEOs said their biggest concern was how the to streamline the creation of certain employee differing needs of Millennials would change the engagement initiatives. This is particularly the way organisations do business.21 case for employee surveys, used to gain insights into workforce sentiment. Instant messaging and video conferencing tools such as Slack and Zoom became lifelines Internal communications should be: during the pandemic, with Zoom’s global daily R Frequent R Multi-directional participants jumping from 10 million to over 200 million in just three months.22 With an R Consistent in R Professionally increasingly Millennial and Gen-Z dominated message executed workforce and the continuing trend of remote R Empathetic working, these channels will continue to be vital internal communications tools, driving yet more R Transparent technological innovation in this space.

21. Haworth, “Raising the bar: Australian Millennials in the workplace”, 2017 22. Venture Beat, “Zoom’s daily active users jumped from 10 million to over 200 million in 3 months”, April 2020

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Employee communications at all touchpoints of the employee lifecycle

Just like a strong employer brand, internal communications should play a role during all touchpoints of the employee lifecycle – from onboarding and orientation to learning & development and beyond. Listed on the following pages are some of the different touchpoints of the employee lifecycle where internal communications are critical.

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Surveys Offboarding Pre-boarding

P Pulse surveys P Offboarding surveys P Integration

P Onboarding surveys P Alumni information P Introduction

Internal communications Onboarding and orientation at all touchpoints of the P Learning modules employee lifecycle P Introduction to culture and values

Services Learning & development Rewards & recognition

P Payslips P Employee testimonials P Peer-to-peer recognition programs P Managing leave requests P Electronic learning modules P Room bookings

P Submitting expense claims

Pre-boarding 10-25% of employees leave within six months Internal communications begin early in the of employment23 – with 36% citing a lack of candidate – and soon-to-be employee – proper onboarding as the reason for leaving24 experience. Throughout the offer acceptance – it’s clear that communications during the and onboarding period, an organisation onboarding period are critical. Communications can convey a strong sense of its employer during onboarding should be focused on brand to a new hire. Items such as employee welcoming the new hire into the team on welcome packs, containing links to sites with various channels and communicating values valuable information on where the company and mission to the new hire. When it comes located, who’s who in the organisation and to knowledge of the employer brand, chances information about values & mission help with are a new hire may not know much more than culture boarding. It’s also worthwhile asking what the company offers or produces. They new candidates to share a paragraph about are unlikely to know its overarching vision, themselves before starting for the company- values and what sets it apart from competitors. wide ‘welcome’ email sent out on their first day. Instilling this into new hires early is essential, All of this communication enables relationship- so that they know what’s expected and feel building between the employer and the new properly integrated into the wider company. hire before they have even started. Providing a staff handbook and virtual Onboarding eLearning modules that convey your vision, Employee onboarding helps new hires mission and goals help to make sure your new physically, emotionally, and professionally hire is aligned with these from day one. integrate into the operations and culture of a business. Given research highlighting that

23. Korn Ferry survey, “90 percent of executives say new hire retention an issue”, 2017 24. Robert Half, “Survey finds majority of job seekers would quit a new job during the first month”, 2018

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New staff should be encouraged to provide Services feedback on the onboarding process, to The goal of any company should be to encourage a dialogue from the very beginning create a holistically positive experience for of their journey. its employees, starting at onboarding and extending to day-to-day interactions, with every Rewards & recognition in the employee journey designed to Communication is an essential component of reflect company culture and values. any employee recognition program. Effective recognition is continuous and genuine – a Allowing employees to access and update part of the natural flow of human interaction personal information and manage leave amongst an organisation’s people. This fosters requests through self-service technology makes an authentic ownership of culture and purpose for a superior employee experience, in the as employees are publicly recognising and process easing the administrative burden from reinforcing company values. HR teams.

Communication around rewards and Surveys recognition should be: Regular surveys are a useful way of measuring workforce sentiment, making employees feel P Timely their voices are being heard. P Specific ELMO Survey, for example, enables P Meaningful organisations to conduct and manage staff surveys throughout all points of the employee As employee-to-employee communications lifecycle to gain actionable insights into gain more importance within the internal employees’ attitudes and opinions towards communications function, peer-to-peer work. Users can access a range of ready-made recognition programs are gaining popularity as HR survey templates to help make better a way of creating a happier and more engaged business decisions. workforce. Peer-to-peer recognition programs encourage cross-departmental communication Offboarding and collaboration – in turn helping to boost that Internal communications with departing all important employee engagement. employees are important. Taking time for an effective offboarding process shows Learning & development current and prospective employees that the Learning & development opportunities provide organisation values them for more than their a competitive edge when it comes to attracting contribution to the bottom line. Offboarding is and retaining talent. Having employees who are an essential part of maintaining organisation’s advocates of the various training programs they reputation, optimising current employees’ have done, with employee testimonials, helps working experience, and preserving networking to reinforce the organisation’s commitment to opportunities. ongoing learning and development. Communications with ex-employees – your organisation’s alumni – are equally important. Keeping this community of former employees in the loop with key updates helps to maintain your employer brand among your alumni networks, boosting the chances of re-attracting any quality ‘boomerang’ talent.

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HR and the internal communications function

The line between internal communications and HR is becoming increasingly blurred, but it seems natural for the two to work together, since both are engaging with the same audience: employees. And after all, both functions seek to offer, among other things, a superior employee experience.

During COVID-19, the IC function relied on HR’s input more than ever, as critical communications around health & safety and changes to business operations became a key theme. The pandemic further highlighted that the two functions often sit at the intersection of organisational threats and opportunities, and that while HR is often the first department senior leaders look to when an urgent issue occurs, the communications function is likely the first to hear of problems. Being closest to the people of an organisation, HR leaders can help anticipate and mitigate people-related risks, while internal communications can facilitate employee communications on any resulting actions.

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There are several areas where collaboration between the HR and IC functions makes logical sense. Shared topics include pre-boarding and onboarding, as well as newer areas such as culture boarding – everything that provides employees with HR Employee Internal positive experiences at all points engagement communications of contact with their employers.

With both departments constantly seeking a stronger voice in the boardroom, longer-term collaboration could be game-changing. But all too often, departments have a siloed approach to working. In the box below are four tips on building a stronger working relationship between HR and IC, if indeed they are treated as separate functions.likely to have more insight into who these people are, while IC knows the strategy to make this kind of influencer program work.

Build mutual understanding: Craft messaging together: Poor inter-departmental communication Unlike a communications professional, a HR can lead to poor relationships between professional might be less skilled or trained departments. Both the HR and IC teams in the art of storytelling – which can help to should take the time to sit down with one communicate in a more compelling manner. another to discuss their tasks, problems, and What HR can offer, though, are insights into the achievements. In doing this, both parties will audience (the organisation’s people) that the see that there are several parallels between HR messaging is designed to serve. and internal communications. Identify key ambassadors or influencers: Avoid focusing too rigidly on where the To support an internal communications responsibility lies: program – particularly any communications With the lines between HR and IC blurring, around change management or a decision it can be difficult to know who is ultimately that’s likely to be unpopular – the HR and IC responsible for what. When it comes to duo can leverage employees in the company communications, prioritise the communication who hold influence over workplace culture: itself over the structure. There will be some its internal champions. HR is likely to have types of communication that naturally fall more insight into who these people are, while more into HR’s remit than IC’s – such as IC knows the strategy to make this kind of messaging around health & safety. Working as influencer program work. a team helps to deliver a successful internal communications program.

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Technology is changing the game

Employee engagement and employee communications strategies need careful thought and consideration. Their execution takes even more time that HR does not have, with so many demands already on the department.

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According to research... hr HR managers lose hr 28% of HR managers % 56% of typical “hire- 14 14 hours a week 20 waste 20 hours or 56 to-retire” tasks can manually completing more on manual HR be automated with tasks that could be processes25 technologies and automated 25 limited process changes 26

By using technology to automate certain parts of the employee experience, employers can rest assured that every employee gets the same experience, allowing more control over the employer brand.

Similarly, with internal communications changing to be less focused on top-down communication and more about empowering employees to communicate with one another, technology that offers multi-channel communication is helping to support internal communications efforts.

ELMO Connect tackles the challenge of internal communications in a remote or hybrid workforce by offering instant messaging functionality and integration with Zoom video conferencing. For employers, this removes the need to invest in complex and time-consuming integrations themselves.

Offering employees a voice – via regular pulse surveys available throughELMO Survey, for example – helps to provide employers with actionable data on employee sentiment, which can help to inform the internal communications strategy.

Similarly, having access to reports that provide an overview of the workforce can be invaluable for crafting tailor-made employee communications. All ELMO solutions offer reporting tools.

25. CareerBuilder survey, “Why now is the time to adopt HR automation”, December 2017 26. McKinsey, “Human resources in the age of automation”, 2018

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In summary, HR tech can support internal communications efforts by: P Automating and streamlining the survey P Empowering employees through self-service function, allowing employers to obtain technology, allowing HR teams to focus on regular, actionable insights into workforce the communication that matters sentiment P Freeing up time, enabling HR leaders to make P Providing built-in communication technology better use of their data and allowing them to support better employee-to-employee to get back to driving strategic workforce communication and collaboration – no planning and building a high-innovation matter where they are based culture that aligns with critical business priorities.

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Key take-aways

Greater input from HR into internal communications in the future seems a certainty. Here are some important factors for HR to consider if they are new to the IC area. Greater collaboration between the two functions will ensure a more rewarding work experience occurs for all employees.

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Accept that digital is key: Digital laggards will be substantially disadvantaged during the recovery phase. The pandemic demonstrated how critical digital capabilities are for operational success. A robust organisation will implement technologies that allow multi-directional communication and enable it to withstand future periods of uncertainty.

Don’t forget what worked during the pandemic: As organisations move to ‘rebuild’ phase post COVID-19, it’s important that any positive internal communications practices adopted during the pandemic are continued as the ‘new normal’ takes hold. It would be a mistake to assume that the camaraderie that sustained many employees early in the crisis will endure long term. Leaders must take active steps to ensure continued relationship- building, particularly for remote workers.

Acknowledge that employee engagement is more important than ever: COVID-19 added a new layer of complexity to employee engagement issues, with underlying work issues magnified by upheavals in the personal lives of many workers. Employee engagement was as critical during the pandemic as it is now and in the future. Since a key component of successful employee engagement is frequent, transparent communication, employers should invest in technologies that empower employees to seamlessly connect with one another.

Don’t forget that internal communications have become ‘democratised’: We have observed internal communications during COVID-19 becoming more democratised. The proliferation of communications channels and collaboration tools has meant that rather than being a corporate management ‘mouthpiece’, the internal comms function is instead focused on employee-centric internal communication, particularly aimed at strengthening the comms abilities of employees – enabling them to communicate more effectively.

Checklist: P Invest in digital P Keep employee engagement P Develop an internal technologies that better front of mind when making communications strategy facilitate employee-to- any decisions about internal with input from HR employee communication communications P Prioritise internal P Ensure internal P Frequently measure communications at all communications flow in employee sentiment using points of the employee multiple directions surveys journey

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How ELMO can help ELMO Software can help business leaders manage their workforce, even while operating remotely. As a cloud-based solution, ELMO helps employers manage their teams from anywhere at any time from a secure, centralised database. All employee-employer touchpoints are covered by ELMO’s suite, from ‘hire to retire’. This includes recruitment, onboarding, performance management, payroll, rostering / time & attendance, learning & development, and more.

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