With the spread of the new coronavirus infection in 2020, telework, including working from home, has rapidly spread. One year has passed since the first state of emergency was declared, and issues are becoming apparent.
Lack of communication that cannot be resolved by phone or email
In the “ Internal Communication Questionnaire 2021 ” (*) survey conducted by the HR Research Institute in January 2021, the majority of employees at companies with 1,000 or fewer employees answered that they had trouble communicating with telework. It was found that small and medium-sized enterprises have a problem of deteriorating work efficiency due to non-face-to-face communication compared to large companies.
Telephones and e-mails, which have been used for a long time, continue to be the main means of communication, but in telework, conventional means alone are not sufficient.
You can interact without being conscious of non-face-to-face
According to the above survey, business chat is more effective than telephone and email for communication with teleworkers. Here are some reasons why.
Prompt response and active communication
If you wonder whether you should reply even if it’s just “I understand”, or if you’re trying to figure out when to send it, you’ll be slow to respond to other tasks.
In business chat, you can react to messages with stamps and pictograms, just like LINE. You can communicate more easily than text, so you won’t be late to respond even while doing other work.
You can create a soft atmosphere by accurately conveying the sense of temperature.
Emails tend to be formal and often give the wrong impression that you thought you were angry.
Using stamps and pictograms can convey your intentions in a soft atmosphere, making it easier for the other party to react. It is also important to create an atmosphere to activate non-face-to-face exchanges.
You can easily consult and share information without having to think about destinations and subjects.
In an email, not only the addressee and body text, but also the CC range, subject, and attached files must be checked for errors, which takes time to send each time.
Business chat does not require an addressee or subject, and you can discuss and share just by posting to the chat room.
There is no need to confirm “Did you see that contact?”
Many business chats come with useful features.
For example, in LINE’s business version, LINE WORKS, you can check the number of times a bulletin board has been read, and you can use the survey function to find out who has not yet responded.
It is a big advantage that you can improve the efficiency of existing operations by introducing one system.
Avoid the risk of information leakage
You may think that LINE can be used for business because it is familiar in private and can be introduced for free, but the risk of information leakage and unauthorized access increases.
Business versions such as ” LINE WORKS ” can restrict the use of external websites and deny access to unauthorized accounts, which is also useful as an information security risk avoidance measure.
Choose a system with a focus on ease of use and business collaboration
Since the introduction of the business chat will greatly change internal communication, system selection is very important. What points should we pay attention to?
User friendly
It must be easy to operate to spread to all employees. A complicated system reduces motivation for communication, so it is gradually not used.
Able to cooperate with business
If the existing business and chat cannot be linked, the effort of going back and forth between the systems will increase and motivation will decrease.
If you have a lot of materials to share, consider introducing LINE WORKS, which also has a cloud storage function.
We recommend “LINE WORKS”
Non-face-to-face tools such as conventional telephones and emails alone are insufficient for a telework system. Consider using business chat for smooth communication.
Considering the ease of introduction and cooperation with business, it is recommended to introduce a business version of a system like ” LINE WORKS ” that is familiar even in private.
