A tropical storm causes power outages and road closures. A protest blocks access to one of your facilities. A strike disrupts your supply chain. A cybersecurity incident causes a mass outage.
Regardless of which threat your organization is facing, rapid, reliable employee communication is critical – for their safety, as well as business continuity. The best way to ensure you get the right message to the right people at the right time is with a mass notification system that allows multimodal communication – the ability to send alerts via email, SMS, app-based push notifications, desktop alerts, and voice.
We went to the source to validate the importance of multimodal communication with a survey of more than 1,000 in-office, hybrid, fully remote, and lone workers. The results not only confirm the value of using multiple communication channels, but they also reveal the importance of taking employee preferences into account.
Some people prefer certain methods of communication over others. An employee may be in transit and most reachable on their personal mobile device, or they may be diligently working in the office, making a desktop alert ideal. Or perhaps some channels simply aren’t available if your network goes down and you must rely on out-of-band communication. Failure to take these factors and preferences into account increases the chances that your message is not received, putting those employees at risk.
The Current State of Employee Mass Notification
If you’re using work-based methods of communication to reach your employees during a crisis, you’re not alone. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of full-time workers said their employer uses work phone, email, or messaging apps to communicate with them during an emergency.
Within work-based channels, work email (56 percent) is the most common channel used, followed by work phone call (32 percent), work mobile text message (26 percent), and work messaging apps (24 percent). Despite work email being the most common method of communication used by employers during an emergency, 68 percent of full-time employees view it as less effective.
So what communication channels do employees actually want their employers to use?
2024 Employee Safety Survey
Discover employee perceptions and expectations when it comes to communication and safety in the workplace. Read insights gathered from our survey of over 1,000 in-office, hybrid, fully-remote and lone workers to improve your safety initiatives and enhance employee satisfaction.
The Preferred State of Mass Communication
The verdict is in: Communication via personal devices is the preferred choice among full-time employees. Ninety-four percent feel a personal mobile call or a personal mobile text message are effective communication methods during an emergency.
Seventy-nine percent of full-time employees prefer personal email or phone, but this percentage was slightly higher among full-time employees in four industries:
- Hospitality, Transportation, Travel, and Tourism: 80%
- Finance, Insurance and Business Services: 81%
- Retail/Wholesale: 84%
- Education: 82%
A comparison of the survey results of the current state with the preferred state for each specific type of worker – on-site/in-person, fully remote, hybrid, and lone worker – reveals additional insight.
Emergency Communication Preferences by Worker Type
| Current State | Preferred State | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worker Segment | Work Phone/Email/Messaging App | Personal Email / Phone | Work Phone / Email / Messaging App | Personal Email / Phone |
| On-site/In-person | 67% | 75% | 47% | 81% |
| Fully Remote | 83% | 73% | 57% | 77% |
| Hybrid | 86% | 74% | 59% | 75% |
| Lone Worker | 75% | 71% | 50% | 75% |
| Current State | ||
|---|---|---|
| Worker Segment | Work Phone / Email / Messaging App | Personal Email / Phone |
| On-site/In-person | 67% | 75% |
| Fully Remote | 83% | 73% |
| Hybrid | 86% | 74% |
| Lone Worker | 75% | 71% |
| Preferred State | ||
| Worker Segment | Work Phone / Email / Messaging App | Personal Email / Phone |
| On-site/In-person | 47% | 81% |
| Fully Remote | 57% | 77% |
| Hybrid | 59% | 75% |
| Lone Worker | 50% | 75% |
The data is clear. All types of employees surveyed – on-site/in-office, fully remote, hybrid, and lone worker - prefer personal email or phone over work-based methods of communication during an emergency. Yet, employers are only meeting the expectations of on-site/in-person workers. For all others, employers are more likely to send emergency notifications to work phones, emails, or messaging apps. That said, the percentage of employees who prefer work-based methods is still high enough to demonstrate the value in using both work and personal communication channels. In other words, multimodal communication ensures you’re meeting all employee preferences while also improving message receipt and employee safety.
Collecting Employee Information for Mass Notification
One other area to consider when it comes to mass notification is personally identifiable information (PII). Access to certain types of PII makes it easier to know which employees are at risk during a given emergency and how to reach them through personal channels.
If you think your employees aren’t willing to share their PII, you may be surprised by our survey results. The majority of full-time workers are willing to let their employer collect and hold their phone number (62 percent), home address (57 percent), and personal email address (52 percent) to be used in the event of an emergency.
Not surprisingly, fewer employees are willing to share their real-time location, but the numbers are higher than you may think. One-quarter of full-time employees are willing to let their employer collect and hold their real-time location unconditionally, and nearly one-third (30 percent) are willing to share it if it is to be used in the event of an emergency.
A generational breakdown of employees reveals that older generations are more willing to share their real-time location unconditionally. However, this generational gap closes when it comes to sharing this information for use in the event of an emergency.
Cross-generational View: Willingness to Let Employer Collect Real-time Location
| Generation | Unconditional | Only in the event of an emergency |
|---|---|---|
| Gen Z (18-27) | 21% | 34% |
| Millennial (28-43) | 20% | 30% |
| Gen X (44-59) | 27% | 28% |
| Baby Boomers (60-78) | 32% | 31% |
Given the value of real-time location data during a critical event, the survey results indicate employers should reach out to their employees to gauge comfort levels about sharing PII for emergencies. The response may be more positive than expected.
Employee Mass Notification Status Check
When a crisis strikes, leveraging multiple communication channels, and understanding your employees’ preferences, increases the chance that your message is received. It’s critical to have a mass notification system provider that supports multimodal communication, including a mobile app that makes it easy to send and receive notifications.
Learn more about other employee preferences and expectations around workplace safety by downloading the full survey report.
