How Covid-19 Pandemic Changed The Way Businesses Communicate

Work-from-home (WFH), masks, gloves and no meet-ups and shake hands – in a nutshell, this is what the COVID-19 pandemic has done to the world. And, what about businesses? Of course, the pandemic has transformed the way we communicate with our colleagues and at the workplace. 

Trust matters!

Trust is the key factor in communication. So, how do you create trust in the minds of your employees? It can be achieved only through open communication. Realizing this, businesses went on an innovation drive and modified the way they operated so that their employees trusted them and put their heart and soul into the work without giving room for any dip in productivity.

Internal Communications:

Engaging with the employees on a constant and seamless basis can sure uplift the morale as well as their confidence. Hence, streamlining internal communication – using personal, sympathetic and regular communication became the norm.

Tackling isolation through personalized communication: 

Isolation has been one of the major challenges of WFH. When employees have to be confined to their homes and private spaces, the synergy and bonhomie they derived from teamwork and team bonding just went for a toss. To alleviate this situation, businesses started using tools that bring in collaboration within team members to execute effective communication.   

Top-down communication: 

With uncertainty looming large, CEOs and executives prioritized clear and sympathetic communication to their workforce. While they allayed the fears of their employees, they also made sure to avoid negative impacts on the business. For all these to happen, effective communication was made to cascade down from managers to people to dispel myths, rumours and avoid miscommunication.

Mails, chats and more to keep the engagement level high:

While emails with updates became a regular affair, chats became more frequent so that employees could relate and share their challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Collaboration Becoming The Key:

The COVID-19 pandemic put the businesses on an innovation overdrive and the same reflected in the tools and channels of communication, too. Harnessing the power of technology, tech-enabled communication became the most sought-after approach. From tech giants like Microsoft and Google to regional champs like Whizzyle came up with chat rooms to facilitate communication seamlessly. 

Tech to the rescue

Software application Whizzyle came up with chat options, creating a clear distinction between personal and organizational communication so that employees do not feel overwhelmed with multiple communication interfering with their lives. The highlight of Whizzyle is that the chat starts with a subject and agenda and it also helps to note down the minutes of the meeting, share files, assign tasks and more, bringing the much-required momentum, accountability and flexibility to improve the employee morale and increase production.

While businesses struggle with miscommunication Whizzyle ensures the communication is effective. And how? The software application doesn’t encourage chat without purpose and incomplete action. One of the major aspects of Whizzyle has been the task assignment feature, where leaders and managers can assign the task for each user and monitor the task.

WFH, a potential option:

Though the pandemic affected several aspects of life and businesses, it showcased the resilience of the workforce. The stigma that was attached to remote working is no longer there and one of the greatest experiments in history, work-from-home, has proved that it is a potential option. 

The pandemic has shaken up everything and businesses are trying to establish new and improved standards for collaboration. To win in the innovation competition, the communication channel between teams’ matters and it is going to play a more important role-be it working from the office or WFH.

When you keep your employees happy they are sure to reciprocate it and it reflects in the increase in productivity. For this, a collaborative communication system should be there. When regular feedback is given, it would motivate employees and optimize their experience and output.

Training: 

How to leverage new technologies? Of course, through training! It is true in communication, too. Training highlighting how the new technology is simplifying work, increasing their productivity and making their lives easy is well accepted by the employees. 

While the pandemic brought in a technological revolution that changed almost all the aspects of life, businesses, too, have adapted to the new normal by taking the official communication to specialized chat groups, constantly keeping engaged with their teams, while assigning them actionable tasks, evaluating and giving feedback regularly. This distinction between official and private communication gives the employees, too, much-required family time so that they are productive in their official roles.