Broker, consultant, advisor—whatever title you go by, as an HR broker, you are a go-to fixer in the human resources world. A skilled HR broker or brokerage firm solves problems and overcomes challenges HR teams can’t handle effectively on their own.
And as a problem-solver, you must come prepared with a range of solutions designed to assist with anything and everything an HR team might encounter in their efforts to provide employees with the best possible work experience and benefits package, while preventing labor costs from ballooning to unreasonable proportions.
This often means building relationships with benefits providers to ensure your clients the most favorable rates. Sometimes, it includes working with clients to launch and manage novel benefit offerings, such as wellness programs or emergency savings plans.
However, these services are just scratching the surface of what an HR broker can offer in terms of true value.
The modern HR department has a holistic perspective that encompasses not just open enrollment but the entire year-round employment cycle. As an HR broker, you can differentiate your business and delight your clients by introducing them to a tool built to solve one of the most vexing HR challenges: employee communications.
This tool is mass texting.
Related: Have your best open enrollment ever with our OE playbook. Download it here →
What Is Mass Texting for HR Teams?
Mass texting is just what it sounds like: contacting employees en masse or in groups via SMS text messaging or a similar messaging protocol. A mass texting tool simplifies the process, typically allowing users to maintain a database of recipients, schedule outgoing messages, and message large groups with a single click.
You’ve almost certainly received mass text messages yourself from a brand, political campaign, healthcare provider, or other entity. Mass texting is quickly becoming one of the most beloved channels for sending and receiving critical messaging, and here’s why you should consider adding it to your HR broker services:
1. Enhancing Client Offerings
Mass texting is a value-added service that remains relatively rare in the HR brokerage sphere. In an era of intense competition among firms providing more or less the same services, mass texting offers HR brokers a way to differentiate themselves—which can be key, especially for smaller regional brokers looking for a leg up over the big national firms.
Mass texting slots seamlessly into a holistic suite of services alongside benefits management, compliance, and HRIS systems. This allows your business to build deeper and more integrated relationships with your clients, providing value and driving revenue throughout the year.
2. Improving Client Communication Efficiency
As mentioned above, mass texting is an easy-to-implement and universally appreciated solution to employee communication problems.
With emails seeing abysmal open rates, meetings experiencing low attendance, and print handouts taking a one-way trip to the recycle bin, modern HR departments struggle to break through the noise with urgent messaging.
Texting, however, has several advantages over these legacy channels. Put simply, texting is the preferred communication method for Americans of all ages and backgrounds:
- SMS open rates average 98% (compared to 20% for email).
- Over 90% of people read their text messages within three minutes of receiving them.
- Nearly 97% of Americans own a mobile device, and 85% keep their phones within arm’s reach most of the time. (75% of Americans use their phone on the toilet!)
The immediacy and ubiquity of mass texting employees ensure critical messages are seen and acted upon promptly, improving overall employee engagement and satisfaction.
3. Supporting Compliance and Regulatory Requirements
TCPA, HIPAA, GDPR—as an HR broker, you’re routinely called upon to help your clients stay on the right side of a complex web of regulatory compliance. The stakes are high. A single mistake can trigger stiff penalties and end HR careers.
By offering a mass texting tool designed for compliance, you can help your clients avoid legal pitfalls while maintaining effective communication.
Key among these regulations is the ability to easily opt into or out of messaging (the now commonplace “Reply STOP to end” attached to most mass texts). The best mass texting tools automatically include this compliance feature, allowing HR departments to communicate with willing recipients legally and free from administrative burdens.
4. Facilitating Crisis Management
During the COVID pandemic, we became all too aware of the crucial role of communication during a crisis. When things move quickly, reaching employees in real time is not only essential but, in some cases, life saving (during an extreme weather alert, for example).
With a mass texting tool among your service offerings, you can help your clients maintain business continuity when it matters the most, ensuring that all employees are informed and empowered to respond to crises effectively.
5. Scalability and Flexibility for Diverse Clients
Mass texting tools offer HR brokers an “in” with clients of all sizes, from large enterprises to small businesses. This is because mass texting tools are scalable; they can be tailored to fit the size and needs of the client.
Furthermore, mass texting tools often include features allowing audience segmentation and message personalization, providing an additional layer of scalability and customizability. With a high-quality mass texting tool, HR departments can target specific groups—such as an individual workplace or “floor workers only.” As you might imagine, this ability dramatically expands the possibilities for an employer’s internal communications strategy.
6. Increasing Client Retention
Long-term client relationships are essential for success in nearly any business, and the HR brokerage field is no exception. However, with many HR brokers offering virtually indistinguishable services, client churn and a race to the bottom on price can become the norm.
Employee texting tools break that cycle by making your services integral to clients’ day-to-day operations. Clients are less likely to migrate from providers who provide indispensable tools that integrate seamlessly with their existing systems.
A mass texting service is one way to begin positioning yourself as a partner in your clients’ successes and ultimately build stronger, long-term relationships to help your firm grow alongside your clients.
